Information — United States v. Bonifacio Jastilana Marinas, Central District of California (Document 1)
Summary
An Information filed November 20, 2020 as Document 1 in United States v. Bonifacio Jastilana Marinas, No. 2:20-cr-00587-FMO, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, charging mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341. It alleges that from April 2020 through at least August 2020 the defendant filed unemployment insurance applications with California's Employment Development Department stating that the named claimants were self-employed real estate agents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering Pandemic Unemployment Assistance under the CARES Act. According to the Information, many named claimants resided in Saipan or the Philippines, and the debit cards were mailed to the defendant's home address. It states the scheme caused at least approximately 85 fraudulent applications and losses of at least approximately $516,244.
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“Information — United States v. Bonifacio Jastilana Marinas, Central District of California (Document 1).”
Original at archive.org. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/information-no-2-20-cr-00587-dkt-1-c-d-cal-c106aafe67/
, SHA-256 7353afd42908e7703a7e4d42209feb77b4a4dfc21181bade5395d9c13d592e33.Full text
FILED
Case 2:20-cr-00587-FMO Document 1 Filed 11/20/20 Page 1 of 6 Page ID #:1
CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT
11/20/20
DM
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
BY: ___________________ DEPUTY
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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CR No. 2:20-cr-00587-FMO
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Plaintiff, I N F O R M A T I O N
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v. [18 U.S.C. § 1341: Mail Fraud]
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BONIFACIO JASTILANA MARINAS,
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Defendant.
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17 The United States Attorney charges:
18 [18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 2(b)]
19 A. INTRODUCTORY ALLEGATIONS
20 At times relevant to this Information:
21 1. Defendant BONIFACIO JASTILANA MARINAS was a resident of San
22 Dimas, California, within the Central District of California.
23 2. California’s Employment Development Department (“EDD”) was
24 the administrator of the unemployment insurance (“UI”) benefits
25 program for the State of California.
26 3. On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States
27 declared COVID-19 an emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
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Case 2:20-cr-00587-FMO Document 1 Filed 11/20/20 Page 2 of 6 Page ID #:2
1 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. As a result, Congress passed
2 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”),
3 which the President signed into law on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act
4 provided over $2 trillion in economic relief protections to the
5 American people from the public health and economic impacts of COVID-
6 19.
7 4. Prior to the enactment of the CARES Act, to be eligible for
8 UI benefits administered by EDD, a person had to have been employed
9 and worked in California and received at least a certain amount of
10 wages from an employer in the 18 months preceding his/her UI benefits
11 claim. Because of this requirement, self-employed workers,
12 independent contractors, and employees with insufficient earnings
13 were not eligible to receive regular UI benefits.
14 5. The CARES Act established a new program –- Pandemic
15 Unemployment Assistance (“PUA”) -- to provide unemployment benefits
16 during the COVID-19 pandemic to people who did not qualify for
17 regular UI benefits, including business owners, self-employed
18 workers, independent contractors, and those with a limited work
19 history, who were out of business or had significantly reduced their
20 services as a direct result of the pandemic. UI benefits provided
21 under the PUA program were sometimes referred to as PUA benefits.
22 6. Under the PUA provisions of the CARES Act, a person who was
23 a business owner, self-employed worker, independent contractor, or
24 gig worker could qualify for PUA benefits administered by EDD if
25 he/she previously performed such work in California and was
26 unemployed, partially unemployed, unable to work, or unavailable to
27 work due to a COVID-19-related reason.
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Case 2:20-cr-00587-FMO Document 1 Filed 11/20/20 Page 3 of 6 Page ID #:3
1 7. Persons applying for PUA benefits did not need to submit
2 any supporting documents to EDD with their applications. Claimants
3 entered their total income for the 2019 calendar year on the
4 application. The stated income was used to pay the minimum benefits
5 of $167 per week. EDD could request documentation to provide proof
6 of the stated income.
7 8. A PUA claimant was required to answer various questions to
8 establish his/her eligibility for PUA benefits. The claimant was
9 required to provide his/her name, Social Security Number, and mailing
10 address. The claimant was also required to identify a qualifying
11 occupational status and COVID-19 related reason for being out of
12 work.
13 9. After it accepted a UI benefits claim, including a claim
14 submitted pursuant to the PUA program, EDD typically deposited UI
15 funds every two weeks to an Electronic Bill Payment (“EBP”) debit
16 card administered by Bank of America (“BofA”), which the claimant
17 could use to pay for his/her expenses. The EBP debit card was mailed
18 via the United States Postal Service to the claimant at the address
19 the claimant provided on his/her UI benefits application.
20 B. THE SCHEME TO DEFRAUD
21 10. Beginning no later than April 2020 and continuing through
22 at least August 2020, in Los Angeles County, within the Central
23 District of California, and elsewhere, defendant MARINAS knowingly
24 and with the intent to defraud, devised, participated in, and
25 executed a scheme to defraud EDD and the United States Treasury as to
26 material matters, and to obtain money and property from EDD and the
27 United States Treasury, namely, UI benefits, including PUA benefits,
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Case 2:20-cr-00587-FMO Document 1 Filed 11/20/20 Page 4 of 6 Page ID #:4
1 by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations,
2 and promises, and the concealment of material facts.
3 11. The fraudulent scheme operated, in substance, as follows:
4 a. Defendant MARINAS filed and caused to be filed with
5 EDD fraudulent applications for UI benefits that falsely stated and
6 represented that the named claimants were self-employed real estate
7 agents who had been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,
8 thereby triggering eligibility for UI benefits under the PUA
9 provision of the CARES Act.
10 b. Defendant MARINAS would falsely state and represent,
11 and cause to be falsely stated and represented, on the UI benefits
12 applications that were submitted to EDD, that the named claimants
13 resided and worked as real estate agents in Los Angeles County,
14 within the Central District of California.
15 c. To the contrary, and as defendant MARINAS then knew,
16 many of the persons named as claimants on the applications defendant
17 MARINAS filed and caused to be filed had no residential history in
18 Los Angeles County or, indeed, anywhere in the State of California,
19 but rather resided in Saipan or the Philippines; had no employment
20 history in Los Angeles County or anywhere in the State of California;
21 and were not registered with California as real estate agents.
22 d. By falsely stating that the named claimants had worked
23 in the State of California, defendant MARINAS falsely represented and
24 caused to be falsely represented that the named claimants were
25 eligible for UI benefits administered by EDD when, as defendant
26 MARINAS then knew, they were not eligible for such benefits.
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Case 2:20-cr-00587-FMO Document 1 Filed 11/20/20 Page 5 of 6 Page ID #:5
1 e. As a result of the fraudulent UI benefits applications
2 that defendant MARINAS filed and caused to be filed, EDD authorized
3 BofA to issue EBP cards in the names of the named claimants.
4 f. To ensure that he received the UI benefits that were
5 paid as a result of the fraudulent applications, defendant MARINAS
6 listed and caused to be listed on the applications for the UI
7 benefits his home address as the address for each of the named
8 claimants. Defendant MARINAS knew that, by doing so, defendant
9 MARINAS would cause BofA to mail the EBP debit cards issued to the
10 named claimants to defendant MARINAS’s home address, thereby enabling
11 defendant MARINAS to take possession of the EBP debit cards.
12 g. After defendant MARINAS received the EBP cards issued
13 as a result of the fraudulent UI benefits applications that he
14 submitted and caused to be submitted to EDD, defendant MARINAS took
15 possession of the UI benefits loaded onto the debit cards by, among
16 other methods, using the debit cards and causing the debit cards to
17 be used to make cash withdrawals at Automated Teller Machines.
18 12. Through this scheme, defendant MARINAS caused at least
19 approximately 85 fraudulent applications for PUA benefits to be filed
20 with EDD resulting in losses to EDD and the United States Treasury of
21 at least approximately $516,244.
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Case 2:20-cr-00587-FMO Document 1 Filed 11/20/20 Page 6 of 6 Page ID #:6
1 C. USE OF THE MAILS
2 13. On or about May 18, 2020, within the Central District of
3 California and elsewhere, defendant MARINAS, for the purpose of
4 executing and attempting to execute the above-described scheme to
5 defraud, willfully caused an envelope containing an EBP debit card
6 for an account in the name of J.R.T. to be to be sent and delivered
7 by the United States Postal Service, according to the directions
8 thereon, namely, from BofA to defendant MARINAS’s home address in San
9 Dimas, California.
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NICOLA T. HANNA
11 United States Attorney
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BRANDON D. FOX
14 Assistant United States Attorney
Chief, Criminal Division
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RANEE A. KATZENSTEIN
16 Assistant United States Attorney
Chief, Major Frauds Section
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