Information — United States of America v. Willie Carter
Summary
An Information in United States v. Willie Carter in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, filed after he waived prosecution by indictment and charging wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 2. It sets out the background of pandemic unemployment insurance under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act, including the PUA, PEUC and FPUC programs and FEMA's Lost Wages Assistance Program of $300 per week. The Information alleges that from about June 2020 through about November 2020 Carter and others applied for unemployment benefits in other people's names without their consent, supplied false information and obtained more than $400,000. It closes with a forfeiture allegation over the name of United States Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.
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- Captured
- 2026-09-25
- Source site
- www-justice-gov
Archived web capture. Preserved source — captured from www-justice-gov; archived 2026-09-25.
Full text
2022R00926/ADK
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : Hon.
:
v. : Criminal No. 22-
:
:
WILLIE CARTER : 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 2
INFORMATION
The defendant having waived in open court prosecution by Indictment,
the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey charges:
BACKGROUND
1. At various times relevant to this Information:
a. Defendant WILLIE CARTER was a resident of Bellmawr, New
Jersey.
b. On March 18, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus
Response Act (“FFCRA”) was signed into law. The FFCRA provided additional
flexibility for state Unemployment Insurance (“UI”) agencies and additional
administrative funding to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was signed into
law on March 27, 2020. It expanded States’ ability to provide assistance to
many workers impacted by COVID-19, including for workers who are not
ordinarily eligible for UI benefits (“UIBs”). The CARES Act provided for three
new temporary UI programs: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (“PUA”);
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (“PEUC”); and Federal
Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (“FPUC”).
c. On August 8, 2020, after FPUC expired, a Presidential
Memorandum authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(“FEMA”) to use disaster relief funds pursuant to Section 408, Other Needs
Assistance, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5207, to provide supplemental payments for lost wages
to help ease the financial burden on individuals who were unemployed as a
result of COVID-19. The Lost Wages Assistance Program (“LWA”) served as a
temporary measure, if a State Workforce Agency (“SWA”) chose to administer it,
to provide an additional $300 per week via a total of approximately $42.5
billion in FEMA funds. The period of assistance for LWA was August 1, 2020 to
December 27, 2020, or termination of the program, whichever was sooner.
d. Regardless of which of the three programs described above
was involved (that is, whether PUA, PEUC, or FPUC), funds were distributed to
program participants by the SWA. These funds were received by the SWA from
the United States Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”). When a SWA
approved a UIB application, the SWA caused money to be transferred to the
applicant, often by causing a credit/debit card to be mailed to the address
requested by the applicant.
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2. From at least in or about June 2020 through in or about November
2020, in the District of New Jersey and elsewhere, the defendant,
WILLIE CARTER,
did knowingly and intentionally devise and intend to devise a scheme and
artifice to defraud and to obtain property and money by means of materially
false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and, for the
purpose of executing and attempting to execute such scheme and artifice to
defraud, did transmit and cause to be transmitted by means of wire
communications in interstate and foreign commerce, certain writings, signs,
signals, pictures, and sounds, including a wire communication from inside of
New Jersey to a location outside of New Jersey, as more fully set forth below.
GOAL OF THE SCHEME TO DEFRAUD
3. The goal of the scheme and artifice to defraud was for Carter to
enrich himself by fraudulently obtaining UIBs.
MANNER AND MEANS OF THE SCHEME TO DEFRAUD
4. It was part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that:
a. Carter and/or others applied for UIBs in others’ names
without their knowledge or consent.
b. Carter and/or others provided false information in the UIB
applications inducing SWAs to approve the applications.
c. Carter and/or others provided information in the
applications causing the SWAs to send the UIBs to financial accounts they
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controlled and/or send credit/debit cards containing UIBs to locations they
controlled.
d. Carter and/or others then used the cards or accessed the
financial accounts to obtain money.
e. Carter and others obtained more than $400,000 through
their activity.
5. On or about August 30, 2020, for the purpose of executing the
scheme and artifice to defraud, in the District of New Jersey and elsewhere, the
defendant,
WILLIE CARTER,
knowingly and intentionally transmitted and caused to be transmitted by
means of a wire communication in interstate and foreign commerce, certain
writings, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds, namely a wire communication
from a location in New Jersey to a location outside of New Jersey.
In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 and Section 2.
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FORFEITURE ALLEGATION
1. The allegations contained in this Information are incorporated
by reference as though set forth in full herein for the purpose of alleging
forfeiture pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 981(a)(1)(C), and
Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c).
2. Upon conviction of the offense charged in this Information, the
government will seek forfeiture from defendant Carter, in accordance with Title
28, United States Code, Section 2461(c), and Title 18, United States Code,
Section 981(a)(1)(C), of any and all property, real or personal, that constitutes
or is derived from proceeds traceable to the violation of Title 18, United States
Code, Section 1343.
3. If by any act or omission of defendant Carter any of the
property subject to forfeiture herein:
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 subdivided without difficulty,
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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 defendant Carter up to the
value of the property described in this forfeiture allegation.
_____________________________________
PHILIP R. SELLINGER
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
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