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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Former Postal Employee Admits Fraud in Connection with Unemployment Insurance Benefits (USAO D-NJ 04/14/2022) (2022-04-14)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, dated Thursday, April 14, 2022, announcing that Ross Clayton, 31, of Irvington, New Jersey, a former U.S. Postal Service employee, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Clayton took unemployment insurance benefits-related mail, including debit cards, from a USPS location in New Jersey and used that mail to obtain benefits to which Clayton was not entitled. The charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison, and sentencing is scheduled for September 7, 2022.

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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Former Postal Employee Admits Fraud in Connection with Unemployment Insurance Benefits (USAO D-NJ 04/14/2022) (2022-04-14).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-former-postal-employee-admits-fraud-in-con-d479f59ba2/, SHA-256 7b2e70cb89dcb8e5366d1b69c7c5e19eade461b5e1563d528092ea2da4bd9b82.

Full text

                                      Department of Justice
                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                        District of New Jersey


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        Thursday, April 14, 2022

 Former Postal Employee Admits Fraud in Connection with
           Unemployment Insurance Benefits
NEWARK, N.J. – A former U.S. Postal Service USPS employee today admitted that he conspired to
fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Ross Clayton, 31, of Irvington, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District
Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed
into law. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance program called
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provided unemployment insurance benefits for
individuals who were not eligible for other types of unemployment (the self-employed, independent
contractors, gig economy workers). The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program
called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (FPUC) that provided an additional $600
weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA and regular unemployment insurance benefits.

Clayton was a USPS employee. Clayton took unemployment insurance benefits-related mail,
including debit cards, from a USPS location in New Jersey and used that mail to obtain
unemployment insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.

The charge of conspiring to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20
years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Stokes or twice the
gross loss suffered by the victims. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector
General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone in Manhattan; and postal
inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Postal Inspector in
Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s
Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
Attachment(s):                                         Component(s):
Download Cayton.Information.pdf                        USAO - New Jersey
Topic(s):                                              Press Release Number:
Coronavirus                                            22-142

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