Man Sentenced for Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland, dated September 9, 2025. Judge Deborah L. Boardman sentenced Ahmed Hussain of Prince George's County to 102 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered $557,078 in restitution, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft over fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance claims, together with firearms and drug trafficking convictions. According to the plea agreement, the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $3.5 million in benefits from the Maryland Department of Labor, and he personally participated in claims with losses exceeding $550,000. A search of his home found 60 pounds of marijuana and 229 rounds of ammunition.

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“Man Sentenced for Unemployment Insurance Fraud.” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-09-10-prince-george-s-county-man-sentenced-for-unemployment-insur-77e1d4ef1a/, SHA-256 2989e60630824e9e6386f242b217c1d1523836d0da6922bfb019a3e39c1e5d1f.

Full text

Prince George’s County Man Sentenced for Unemployment
Insurance Fraud and Firearms, Drug Trafficking Crimes
Tuesday, September 9, 2025

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Greenbelt, Maryland – District Judge Deborah L. Boardman sentenced Ahmed Hussain,
23, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, to 102 months in federal prison, followed by three
years of supervised release. Judge Boardman also ordered Hussain to pay $557,078 in
restitution. The sentence is in connection with Hussain’s convictions on conspiracy to
commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, stemming from Hussain
submitting fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance (UI) claims. Hussain’s
sentence also covers Hussain’s convictions on felon in possession of a ﬁrearm and
possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance charges.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with
Special Agent in Charge Troy W. Springer, National Capital Region, U.S. Department of
Labor – Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG); Special Agent in Charge Charles Doerrer,
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Special Agent in Charge
William J. DelBagno, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office; and
Chief George Nader, Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD).

According to the plea agreement, beginning in 2021, and continuing until at least about
September 2022, Hussain and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud the
United States, the State of Maryland, multiple ﬁnancial institutions, and multiple
individuals, including identity theft victims. The co-conspirators submitted false and
fraudulent UI beneﬁts claims to the Maryland Department of Labor (MD-DOL), Maryland’s
agency that is responsible for processing the claims. As part of the conspiracy, the
defendants fraudulently obtained more than $3.5 million in unemployment insurance
beneﬁts. Hussain personally participated in UI claims resulting in losses exceeding
$550,000. He used debit cards issued in the names of aggravated identity theft victims to
obtain UI fraud funds.

Company 1, which provided professional support services to the MD-DOL to review UI
claims and administer UI beneﬁts, employed co-conspirators Bryan Nushawn Ruffin, 27, of
Woodbridge, Virginia, and Kiara Smith, 28, of Fort Washington, Maryland. As detailed in the
plea agreement, Hussain and his co-conspirators possessed and used computers that
Company 1 issued to Ruffin and Smith to access non-public UI data and databases
maintained by the MD-DOL. Ruffin and Smith then granted Hussain and his co-
conspirators access to MD-DOL databases which they used to change information on
existing UI claims.

This included the contact email address, online account password, and payment method
for existing UI claims. The co-conspirators furthered the scheme by using the identity theft
victims’ personal identifying information (PII). They also used their access to the MD-DOL
databases to upload and approve documents submitted in support of fraudulent UI claims,
remove fraud holds on UI claims, certify weeks for determining UI beneﬁts, and engage in
other actions to facilitate the fraudulent UI beneﬁts payments. During the scheme, the
MD-DOL believed they were disbursing UI beneﬁts to debit cards/accounts of UI
applicants, but the accounts were actually opened and controlled by Hussain and his co-
conspirators.

Hussain also admitted that on November 16, 2022, while law enforcement executed a
residential search warrant at his home, they found that he knowingly possessed a stolen
black Honor Defense 9mm handgun. He possessed the ﬁrearm in relation to his drug-
trafficking activities. Officers also found 60 pounds of marijuana, drug distribution baggies,
and 229 rounds of ammunition of varying calibers in Hussain’s room. Prior to law
enforcement ﬁnding him in possession of the ﬁrearm and ammunition, Hussain had been
convicted — and knew he had been convicted — of an offense punishable by more than
one year imprisonment. Therefore, Hussain was prohibited from possessing a ﬁrearm or
ammunition.

Co-Defendants Ruffin, Smith, and Zakria Hussain, 28, of Oxon Hill, Maryland, aka “Oso,”
and Lawrence Nathanial Harris, 32, of Temple Hills, Maryland, aka “Manman” and
“Biggbank,” already pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

The District of Maryland COVID-19 Strike Force is one of ﬁve strike forces established
throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and
prosecute COVID-19 fraud, including fraud relating to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency
ﬁnancial assistance to Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19
pandemic. The strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-state pandemic relief fraud
perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors. The strike forces are
interagency law enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams
designed to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

For more information about the Department’s response to the pandemic,
visit 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 justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the DOL-OIG, ATF, FBI, and PGPD, for their work in the
investigation and the MD-DOL for its assistance. Ms. Hayes thanked Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Harry M. Gruber, Paul A. Riley, Joseph L. Wenner, Christopher Sarma, and Special
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanay Mitchell who are prosecuting this case. She also recognized
the Maryland COVID-19 Strike Force and Paralegal Specialist Joanna B.N. Huber for their
valuable assistance.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and
resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-
md/community-outreach.

###

Contact

Kevin Nash
USAMD.Press@usdoj.gov
410-209-4946

Updated September 9, 2025

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Our copy: 2025-09-10-Prince-George-s-County-Man-Sentenced-for-Unemployment-Insurance-Fraud-and-Firearms-Drug-Trafficking.pdf
Original: www.oig.dol.gov