Information — United States of America v. Alexander Arismendy Alix Hernandez

Summary

An Information in United States v. Alexander Arismendy Alix Hernandez in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, filed after he waived prosecution by indictment and charging conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1349. It alleges that from about May 2020 through about April 2023 Alix, a Bronx, New York resident, conspired with others to file fraudulent unemployment benefits applications using other people's personal identifying information and to collect the funds through debit cards and bank accounts. The Information alleges that the personal information of one unwitting individual was used to obtain approximately $34,758 in benefits from the New York Department of Labor and another's to obtain approximately $30,234 from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor.

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Full text

MJP/2024R00234



                     UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                        DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA                 :    Hon.
                                          :
     V.                                   :    Crim. No. 24-
                                          :
 ALEXANDER ARISMENDY ALIX                 :    18 U.S.C. § 1349
 HERNANDEZ                                :

                              INFORMATION

      The defendant having waived in open court prosecution by Indictment, the

United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey charges:

      1.     Defendant Alexander Arismendy Alix Hernandez (“ALIX”) was a

resident of the Bronx, New York.

                                   The Conspiracy

      2.     From in or around May 2020 through in or around April 2023, in Essex

County, in the District of New Jersey, and elsewhere, the defendant,

                 ALEXANDER ARISMENDY ALIX HERNANDEZ,

knowingly and intentionally conspired and agreed with others to devise a scheme and

artifice to defraud, and to obtain money and property by means of false and

fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and for the purpose of executing

such scheme and artifice to defraud, did knowingly transmit and cause to be

transmitted by means of wire communications in interstate and foreign commerce,

certain writings, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds, contrary to Title 18, United

States Code, Section 1343.
                               Goal of the Conspiracy

      3.     The goal of the conspiracy was for ALIX and his co-conspirators to

unlawfully enrich themselves by defrauding state government entities of millions of

dollars in unemployment benefits (the “Unemployment Benefits”), which were made

available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act.

                      Manner and Means of the Conspiracy

      4.     It was part of the conspiracy that:

                 a. ALIX and others conspired to defraud states of Unemployment

Benefits by using stolen personally identifying information (“PII”) of numerous

unwitting individuals (the “Individuals”) to create fictitious user profiles in their

names seeking Unemployment Benefits without their knowledge or consent. The PII

included names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and other information. ALIX

and his co-conspirators also used fictitious and/or co-conspirator-controlled email

addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses, including in New Jersey, to

complete the fictitious user profiles to execute the scheme.

                 b. Once the state government entities approved the fraudulent

Unemployment Benefits applications, ALIX and his co-conspirators obtained the

funds using debit cards that were either: (i) directly loaded with the benefits through

regular installment payments, or (ii) linked to bank accounts that received the

benefits by direct deposits.

                 c. ALIX and his co-conspirators then used the debit cards to

withdraw cash from ATMs, including in New Jersey, or to make purchases. When



                                          2
ALIX collected the cash, he kept a portion as a fee and then passed the remainder to

a co-conspirator.

                d. For example, ALIX and his co-conspirators used PII for an

unwitting individual (“Individual-1”) to fraudulently obtain approximately $34,758

in Unemployment Benefits from the New York Department of Labor (the “NY DOL”).

ALIX’s Apple iCloud account contained notes with Individual-1’s PII, including a

Social Security Number, date of birth, phone number, and address. In addition, when

law enforcement searched ALIX’s residence in the Bronx, New York on or about April

26, 2023, it contained, among other things, a debit card (“Card-1”) containing

Unemployment Benefits for Individual-1, which was used to withdraw thousands of

dollars of cash from ATMs in and around New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Each of these ATM transactions were processed via interstate and/or international

wires.

                e. ALIX and his co-conspirators also used PII for another unwitting

individual (“Individual-2”) to fraudulently obtain approximately $30,234 in

Unemployment Benefits from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor (“PA DOL”).

From in or around July 2020 through in or around June 2021, they accessed

Individual-2’s purported PA DOL Unemployment Benefits application from ALIX’s

residence in the Bronx. Subsequently, in or around July 2021, two of ALIX’s co-

conspirators communicated via an internet-based messaging application concerning

a debit card containing Individual-2’s Unemployment Benefits (“Card-2”). At least

two of ALIX’s co-conspirators used Card-2 to, among other things, withdraw cash



                                         3
from ATMs in or around Fairfield, New Jersey. These transactions were processed

via interstate wires.

      In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.




                                          4
                             FORFEITURE ALLEGATION

      1.     Upon conviction of the wire fraud offense charged in this Information,

defendant ALEXANDER ARISMENDY ALIX HERNANDEZ shall forfeit to the

United States, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 981(a)(1)(C) and

Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c), all property, real and personal, the

defendant obtained that constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the

commission of the offense, and all property traceable thereto.

                         SUBSTITUTE ASSETS PROVISION

      2.     If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or omission

of the defendant:

             a) cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence;

             b) has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party;

             c)     has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court;

             d) has been substantially diminished in value; or

             e)     has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided

                    without difficulty,

it is the intent of the United States, pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Section

853(p), as incorporated by Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c), to seek

forfeiture of any other property of the defendant up to the value of the above

forfeitable property.


                                                       PHILIP R. SELLINGER
                                                       United States Attorney



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