Riverside County Woman Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Running $1.7 Million COVID-19 Benefits Fraud She Advertised on Instagram (Central District of California)
Summary
A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California dated Wednesday, June 18, 2025, announcing that Jasmine Unique Mallard-McCarter, 30, also known as JassyMC, of Eastvale, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison by United States District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong and ordered to pay $1,765,407 in restitution. It states that she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud over $1.7 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related jobless benefits, federally guaranteed small business loans, California Small Business COVID-19 relief grants and Los Angeles County grants. According to the release, she impersonated others to apply for benefits, charged fees to instruct others how to apply for benefits for which they were not eligible, and acted as a broker for counterfeit documents.
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Press Release Riverside County Woman Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Running $1.7 Million COVID-19 Benefits Fraud She Advertised on Instagram Wednesday, June 18, 2025 For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California LOS ANGELES – An Inland Empire woman was sentenced today to 84 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining $1.7 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related jobless benefits, federally-guaranteed small business loans, California Small Business COVID-19 relief grants, and Los Angeles County economic opportunity grants. Jasmine Unique Mallard-McCarter, 30, a.k.a. “JassyMC,” of Eastvale, was sentenced by United States District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, who also ordered her to pay $1,765,407 in restitution. McCarter pleaded guilty on February 28 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. McCarter impersonated others to apply online for government benefits that she used for herself. McCarter also used the personal identifying information provided by her co-conspirators to apply for government benefits on their behalf, knowing those co-conspirators were not eligible for those benefits. McCarter charged fees to instruct others how to apply for government benefits for which they were not eligible without getting caught. Also, for a fee, McCarter served as a broker for counterfeit documents, such as Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, IRS Forms 1040, W-2s, bank statements, education degrees and transcripts, pay stubs, and doctors’ notes for handicapped placards. In some instances, the McCarter and her co-conspirators used the counterfeit documents to trick the government into paying unjustified benefits. McCarter advertised her fraud services on Instragram, using handles “JassyMc” and “EliteRealEstateandBusiness.” McCarter referred to herself as the “Jass of All Trades” in social media posts, because she could file fraudulent unemployment insurance applications, file grant applications, and broker counterfeit documents and identification in return for a fee. According to McCarter’s Instagram posts, she charged a fee for introducing customers to her connection at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, who could help bypass requirements for smog checks, insurance, and registration. The U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, Employee Development Department Investigations Division, U.S. Small Business Administration – Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and United States Secret Service investigated this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Brown of the Major Frauds Section prosecuted this case. 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 bolster 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 . On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Central and Eastern Districts of California to jointly head one of the three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. Additional information regarding the Strike Force may be found at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-covid-19-fraud-strike-force-teams . 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 . Contact Ciaran McEvoy Public Information Officer ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov (213) 894-4465 Updated June 18, 2025 Topic Coronavirus Component USAO - California, Central Press Release Number: 25-178 Related Content Press Release Former Orange County Supervisor Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Bribery Scheme Involving More Than $10 Million in COVID Funds A former politician who served on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for accepting more than $550,000 in bribes for directing... June 9, 2025 Press Release Founder of O.C.-Based Non-Profit Charged in 15-Count Indictment Alleging He Bribed County Supervisor in $12 Million Scheme The founder of a now-shuttered non-profit organization has been indicted on federal charges alleging he bribed then-Orange County Supervisor Andrew Hoang Do to obtain approximately $12 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related... June 6, 2025 Press Release 14 Arrested on Complaints Alleging More Than $25 Million in COVID-19 Relief and Small Business Loans Were Fraudulently Obtained Fourteen defendants – including San Fernando Valley and Glendale residents – were arrested on two federal criminal complaints alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $25 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief... May 28, 2025
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