Westwego Woman Indicted for Unemployment Insurance Fraud and Covid Fraud (Press Release, September 17, 2024)

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, dated Tuesday, September 17, 2024, announcing that Reha Janee Arvie, of Westwego, was indicted on September 6, 2024. The indictment charges conspiracy to commit mail fraud (Count 1), mail fraud (Counts 2 and 3) and making false statements (Count 4). According to the indictment, Arvie submitted approximately 100 fraudulent unemployment insurance applications to various state offices, recruited friends and family via Facebook to file claims and charged fees ranging from $1,200.00 to $1,500.00. It also alleges that on April 8, 2021, Arvie obtained a PPP loan of approximately $20,832.00 by claiming income of $102,357.00 for the year 2020. Counts 1 through 3 carry up to twenty years each.

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PRESS RELEASE



Westwego Woman Indicted for
Unemployment Insurance Fraud
and Covid Fraud
Tuesday, September 17, 2024


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
shane.jones@usdoj.gov

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced
today that REHA JANEE ARVIE, (“ARVIE”), age 33, of Westwego, LA, was indicted on
September 6, 2024 for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud (Count1), in violation of Title
18, United States Code, Section 1349; Mail Fraud (Counts 2 and 3), in violation of Title
18, United States Code, Section 1341; and, Making False Statements (Count 4), in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2).

According to the indictment, beginning in or around July 2020, ARVIE defrauded, and
attempted to defraud, various state offices of Unemployment Insurance (“UI”) through
the submission of approximately 100 fraudulent UI applications. ARVIE recruited
friends and family via Facebook to file these fraudulent UI
applications. Additionally, ARVIE filed fraudulent UI applications for herself and others,
in various states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Missouri,
Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah, Texas, and the territory of Guam. ARVIE charged those for
whom she filed fraudulent UI claims fees ranging from $1,200.00 to
$1,500.00. Moreover, during the investigation, ARVIE lied to federal agents during an
interview.

Later, on April 8, 2021, ARVIE unlawfully obtained a Paycheck Protection Program
(“PPP”) loan from the United States Small Business Administration
(“SBA”). Specifically, ARVIE falsely claimed on her PPP application that she had income
of $102,357.00 for the year 2020 and submitted a fraudulent Schedule C in support
thereof. As a result of her false statements, ARVIE received a PPP loan of approximately
$20,832.00.
If convicted, ARVIE faces up to twenty (20) years imprisonment, per count, for Counts 1
through 3 and up to five (5) years imprisonment for Count 4. As to each
count, ARVIE also faces up to three (3) years of supervised release, a fine up to
$250,000.00, or twice the gross gain to the defendant, or twice the gross loss to any
victim, and a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee.

U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that the indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt
of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement
Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with
agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-
related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most
culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with
administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting
and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing
information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information
on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of
the Inspector General, is an active member of the PRAC Fraud Task Force.

“The PRAC was established to promote transparency and facilitate coordinated
oversight of the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The PRAC’s 20
member Inspectors General identify major risks that cross program and agency
boundaries to detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the more than $5
trillion in COVID-19 spending, including spending via the Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP), and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. This case was also supported
by the PRAC’s Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence, which applies the latest
advances in analytic and forensic technologies to help OIGs and law enforcement
pursue data-driven pandemic relief fraud investigations.”

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud
(NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at
https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The United States Attorney’s Office would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; the Department of Veteran
Affairs, Office of Inspector General; The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee;
the United States Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General COVID
Fraud Unit; and the California Employment Development Department with this
matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant United States
Attorney Brian M. Klebba, Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit.

Contact
Shane M. Jones

Public Information Officer

United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

United States Department of Justice

Updated September 17, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD
Component
USAO - Louisiana, Eastern


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