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Chester Woman Charged With Pandemic Fraud Scheme

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, dated March 12, 2025, announcing that Muneerah Abdullah of Chester, Pennsylvania, was indicted on February 27, 2025, by a federal grand jury on six counts of wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits related to COVID-19 emergency relief funds. The indictment alleges that from in or about April 2020 to in or about October 2020, Abdullah filed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims for herself and other ineligible recipients, to include inmates. It is also alleged that Abdullah received kickbacks when filing fraudulent PUA claims with another's information. The release states that the maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years' imprisonment.

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“Chester Woman Charged With Pandemic Fraud Scheme.” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-03-17-chester-woman-charged-with-pandemic-fraud-scheme-usao-md-pa-575a918010/, SHA-256 781158d11f603492304ccaf41d4b8ff3f944ac52d7d25878ae4e5d159708d391.

Full text

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               PIO CONTACT: Dawn Clark
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2025                           WORK: (717) 221-4458
WWW.JUSTICE.GOV/USAO/PAM                            CELL:   (717) 975-7128
                                                    EMAIL: Dawn.Clark2@usdoj.gov

                  Chester Woman Charged With Pandemic Fraud Scheme

        SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania announced that Muneerah Abdullah, age 45, of Chester, Pennsylvania, was
indicted on February 27, 2025, by a federal grand jury on six counts of wire fraud for
fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits related to COVID-19 emergency relief funds.

        According to Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus, the indictment alleges that from in
or about April 2020 to in or about October 2020, Abdullah filed Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance (PUA) claims for herself and other ineligible recipients, to include inmates. The
alleged scheme included making false representations in connection with these claims including,
being unemployed as a result of Covid-19, providing false employment or wage history, falsely
stating the applicant was willing, and able to work each day, and was seeking full-time
employment. It is also alleged that Abdullah received kickbacks when she filed fraudulent claims
for PUA with another’s information.

        The PUA program was created by the March 2020 CARES Act, as part of the United
States government’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public’s
health and economic well-being. The PUA program was designed to provide unemployment
benefits to individuals not eligible for regular unemployment compensation or extended
unemployment benefits.

      The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector
General. Assistant United States Attorney Alisan V. Martin is prosecuting the case.

        A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the
applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The maximum
penalty under federal law for wire fraud is 20 years’ imprisonment. Each charge may also carry a
fine and a term of supervised release following imprisonment.

       Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless
and until found guilty in court.

        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.

        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.

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www.oig.dol.gov
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