U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Former Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Mainers’ Identities As Part of Unemployment Fraud Scheme (USAO D-ME 08/29/2023) (2023-09-05)

Summary

An August 29, 2023 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maine announcing that James McAuliffe, a former Arizona man, pleaded guilty in Portland to six counts of wire fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft. According to court records, from January to November 2020 he filed false unemployment insurance claims with the Maine Department of Labor using other people's identifying information, had replacement driver's licenses issued with changed mailing addresses to support the claims, and withdrew the benefits at ATMs in Arizona. The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the Postal Inspection Service investigated. The release also recaps the Justice Department's August 23, 2023 nationwide COVID-19 fraud enforcement action.

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Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Former Arizona Man Pleads Guilty
to Stealing Mainers’ Identities As
Part of Unemployment Fraud
Scheme
Tuesday, August 29, 2023


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maine


Scheme Took Advantage of Increased UI Funds during COVID-19
Pandemic

PORTLAND, Maine: A former Arizona man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in
Portland today to six counts of wire fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to court records, from January to November 2020, James McAuliffe, 55, filed
false claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. McAuliffe filed fraudulent
applications for UI payments with the Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of
Unemployment Compensation using others’ personal identifying information without
their knowledge and consent. As a part of the scheme, he caused fraudulent
applications for replacement drivers licenses to be filed with the Maine Bureau of Motor
Vehicles and changed the drivers’ mailing addresses, using the falsified licenses as proof
of identification in support of the fraudulent UI claims. McAuliffe had the UI benefits
loaded onto debit cards and wired into an account he opened in another person’s name
and withdrew the funds at ATMs in Arizona. At the time of his arrest, McAuliffe was
living in Kansas.

McAuliffe faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to a $250,000, followed by up
to three of supervised release on each count of wire fraud. He faces a mandatory
minimum sentence of two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft counts, which
must be served consecutively to the sentence imposed on the wire fraud counts. He will
be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S.
Probation Office. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering
the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Inspection
Service investigated the case.

“The prosecution of Mr. McAuliffe is one of numerous cases brought by the Department
of Justice nationwide to bring to justice those who sought to exploit COVID-19 relief
fund programs,” said U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee. “The important work of
identifying and prosecuting anyone who stole taxpayer funds set aside for pandemic aid
remains a priority for my office and Maine’s federal law enforcement agencies.”

“James McAuliffe engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance
funds by using the stolen identities of Maine residents and others. McAuliffe stole
benefits set aside by the federal government to assist American workers struggling
during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to work with our law enforcement
partners to safeguard Department of Labor programs from those who seek to exploit
them,” said Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent-in-Charge, Northeast Region, U.S.
Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

Coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud: On
August 23, 2023 the Justice Department announced the results of a coordinated,
nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718
enforcement actions – including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants – for
offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud. The Justice Department
has now seized over $1.4 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that criminals had stolen and
charged over 3,000 defendants with crimes in federal districts across the country. Many
of the cases in the enforcement action involve charges related to pandemic
unemployment insurance benefit fraud and fraud against the two largest pandemic
Small Business Administration programs: the Paycheck Protection Program and
Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Additional matters involved pandemic healthcare billing
fraud, fraud against the Emergency Rental Assistance program, and fraud committed
against the IRS Employee Retention Credit program (ERC), a refundable tax credit for
businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees and were affected during
the COVID-19 pandemic.

                                           ###

Contact
Sean M. Green, Assistant United States Attorney (207-780-3257)
Updated August 29, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD
Component
USAO - Maine


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