U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Citizen Of Dominican Republic Sentenced To 79 Months In Prison For $16 Million COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits Fraud Scheme (USAO SD-NY 01/30/2024) (2024-02-08)

Summary

Press release 24-036 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, dated January 30, 2024, announcing that Yohauris Rodriguez Hernandez was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern to 79 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, theft of government funds, and aggravated identity theft. According to the release, from February 2020 through December 2020 Rodriguez Hernandez, co-defendant Henry Fermin and others filed and verified hundreds of COVID-19 unemployment benefit applications using other people's names and social security numbers. It states that the scheme resulted in at least approximately $16.1 million in benefit payments authorized. Rodriguez Hernandez was also ordered to forfeit $3,294,368.50 and pay $3,294,368.50 in restitution.

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PRESS RELEASE



Citizen Of Dominican Republic
Sentenced To 79 Months In Prison
For $16 Million COVID-19
Unemployment Benefits Fraud
Scheme
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,
announced that YOHAURIS RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ was sentenced to 79 months in
prison in connection with her participation in a fraudulent scheme to obtain over $16
million in Government benefits intended to provide relief to individuals without
employment during the COVID-19 pandemic. RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ previously pled
guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, theft of government funds, and aggravated
identity theft before U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern, who imposed today’s sentence.



U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Yohauris Rodriguez
Hernandez participated in a scheme that systematically targeted
Government funds established as a safety net for millions of people
across the United States struggling to make ends meet during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Today’s sentence demonstrates that this Office
and our law enforcement partners continue to work tirelessly to
prosecute those who sought to commit pandemic relief fraud.”
According to court documents and statements made during court proceedings:
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act is a federal law enacted
on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of
Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source
of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of hundreds of billions of dollars
in unemployment insurance benefits payable to eligible, lawful workers and administered
through state agencies, such as the New York State Department of Labor (“NYS DOL”) in
New York, in accordance with federal laws and regulations.

From February 2020 through December 2020, RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ and her co-
defendant, Henry Fermin, along with others, participated in a scheme to obtain COVID-
19 unemployment benefits through the fraudulent filing and verification of hundreds of
benefit applications using the names and social security numbers of numerous other
individuals. Law enforcement agencies were first alerted to the scheme after RODIRGUEZ
HERNANDEZ and Fermin fled a Yonkers hotel in December 2020, leaving behind in their
previously occupied room approximately 747 pieces of mail from the NYS DOL. Those
pieces of mail contained, among other unemployment benefit-related materials, NYS
DOL-issued prepaid debit cards for numerous other individuals linked to approximately
568 New York State unemployment insurance benefit accounts. Over the course of the
relevant time period, RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ and Fermin exchanged numerous text
messages, images, and other communications that included personal identifying
information — such as names, social security numbers, and dates of birth — that were
used in connection with the filing and verification of numerous fraudulent applications
for unemployment benefits primarily in New York as well as other states. RODRIGUEZ
HERNANDEZ also recruited and bribed a letter carrier of the U.S. Postal Service, who in
turn enlisted two other postal workers, to collectively intercept NYS DOL mail that
RODRIGUEZ and her co-conspirators directed to addresses on each of the postal workers’
respective postal routes.

Overall, the fraudulent scheme resulted in at least approximately $16.1 million in
unemployment insurance benefit payments authorized across hundreds of accounts and
at least approximately $3.2 million in actual benefit payments disbursed.

                                  *          *          *

In addition to the prison term, RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ, 42, of the Dominican Republic,
was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $3,294,368.50
and to pay $3,294,368.50 in restitution.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Department of Labor Office
of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration
Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Mr.
Williams also thanked the City of Yonkers Police Department, the NYS DOL, Homeland
Security Investigations, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and the New York City
Police Department for their assistance with the investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Kevin Sullivan is in charge of the prosecution.

Contact
Nicholas Biase, Lauren Scarff
(212) 637-2600

Updated January 30, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD


Component
USAO - New York, Southern
Press Release Number: 24-036


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