Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Source documents U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Amsterdam Woman and Las Vegas Man Charged in Pandemic Fraud Conspiracy (USAO ND-NY 09/30/2024) (2024-10-01)

U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Amsterdam Woman and Las Vegas Man Charged in Pandemic Fraud Conspiracy (USAO ND-NY 09/30/2024) (2024-10-01)

Summary

A September 30, 2024 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York announcing that Jodi Drygula, of Amsterdam, New York, and Anthony Camou, of Las Vegas, Nevada, were indicted on mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud charges. The indictment alleges that from July 2020 through September 2021 Drygula and Camou obtained unemployment insurance benefits from the New York State Department of Labor in the names of three people and defrauded the agency out of more than $250,000. Drygula appeared on August 27, 2024 before United States Magistrate Christian F. Hummel and Camou on September 13, 2024 before United States Magistrate Daniel J. Albregts; both were released with conditions. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew M. Paulbeck and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Amsterdam Woman and Las Vegas Man Charged in Pandemic Fraud Conspiracy (USAO ND-NY 09/30/2024) (2024-10-01).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-amsterdam-woman-and-las-vegas-man-charged-49d7877d18/, SHA-256 3a5c2fe451582d2b266b95347b39aea5355e3d8efddcc35477695f110006fc2a.

Full text

PRESS RELEASE


Amsterdam Woman and Las Vegas Man
Charged in Pandemic Fraud Conspiracy
Monday, September 30, 2024

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jodi Drygula, age 52, of Amsterdam, New York, and Anthony
Camou, age 45, of Las Vegas, Nevada, have been indicted on mail fraud and conspiracy
to commit mail fraud charges for fraudulently obtaining pandemic-related
unemployment insurance benefits in the names of other people.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge,
Northeast Region, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General
(USDOL-OIG); Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division of the
United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Lucy Lang, New York State Inspector
General (NYS-OIG), made the announcement.

Drygula appeared on August 27, 2024, before United States Magistrate Christian F.
Hummel in Albany, and Camou appeared on September 13, 2024, before United States
Magistrate Daniel J. Albregts in the District of Nevada; both defendants were ordered
released with conditions.

The indictment alleges that from July 2020 through September 2021, Drygula and
Camou fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits from the New York
State Department of Labor (“NYSDOL”) in the names of three people. As a result of their
conspiracy, which included additional fraudulent applications for unemployment
insurance benefits, Drygula and Camou defrauded the NYSDOL out of more than
$250,000. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendants are
presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty.

The mail fraud and conspiracy charges carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a
fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years. A defendant’s
sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged
with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.
The case is being investigated by USDOL-OIG, USPIS, and NYS-OIG, with assistance from
the New York State Department of Labor. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew M. Paulbeck
and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting the 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 bolsters 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.

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.

Updated September 30, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD


Component
USAO - New York, Northern


File and source

File
2024-10-01-Amsterdam-Woman-and-Las-Vegas-Man-Charged-in-Pandemic-Fraud-Conspiracy-USAO-ND-NY-09-30-2024.pdf
Size
84,262 bytes
SHA-256
3a5c2fe451582d2b266b95347b39aea5355e3d8efddcc35477695f110006fc2a
Our copy
2024-10-01-Amsterdam-Woman-and-Las-Vegas-Man-Charged-in-Pandemic-Fraud-Conspiracy-USAO-ND-NY-09-30-2024.pdf
Original
www.oig.dol.gov
Back to top