U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Four Capital Region Men Charged with Pandemic Fraud Scheme (USAO ND-NY 07/20/2023) (2023-07-21)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York, dated Thursday, July 20, 2023, announcing the indictment of Todd Ward, 44, and Christopher Ward, 45, both of Troy, Rocco Resciniti, 49, of Albany, and a fourth defendant. The indictment alleges that from about November 2020 to September 2021 the defendants passed personally identifiable information of at least 13 individuals to New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) employee Carl J. DiVeglia III, who submitted and approved fraudulent unemployment benefits applications. The defendants are charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, which carry a maximum term of 20 years. The release states that DiVeglia pled guilty on April 13, 2022 and admitted responsibility for over $1.6 million in losses to NYSDOL.

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PRESS RELEASE



Four Capital Region Men Charged
with Pandemic Fraud Scheme
Thursday, July 20, 2023

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


Indictment Alleges They Conspired with Corrupt New York State
Employee in Scheme to Obtain Unemployment Insurance Benefits
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Todd Ward a/k/a “Fats,” age 44, of Troy, New York; Christopher
Ward a/k/a “Reek,” age 45, of Troy; Rocco Resciniti a/k/a “Rock,” age 49, of Albany; and
a fourth defendant have been indicted for conspiring with a former New York State
Department of Labor (NYSDOL) employee to fraudulently obtain unemployment
insurance benefits in the names of other people.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Janeen
DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI); and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge, Northeast Region,
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (USDOL-OIG).

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman stated: “As alleged, the defendants teamed up
with a corrupt state employee to arrange for the submission of fraudulent
unemployment benefits applications. The COVID-19 national emergency is over, but
with our federal and state law enforcement partners, we continue to investigate and
prosecute those who viewed the pandemic as an opportunity to steal from
government.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Janeen DiGuiseppi stated: “The scheme alleged in this case
took crucial funding designed to assist hardworking Americans away from those
struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today’s arrests should serve as a warning to
all that the FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, will not allow critical benefits
program funding to be exploited by criminals looking to line their own pockets.”

USDOL-OIG Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone stated: “An important part of the
mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations relating to
unemployment insurance fraud, particularly when they involve insider threats. We will
continue to work with our law enforcement partners and state workforce agencies to
aggressively investigate these types of allegations.”

The indictment alleges that from about November 2020 to September 2021, Todd Ward,
Christopher Ward, Resciniti and a fourth defendant conspired to submit fraudulent
unemployment insurance applications in the names of other people by passing along
personally identifiable information of at least 13 individuals to NYSDOL employee Carl J.
DiVeglia III. DiVeglia then abused his NYSDOL computer systems access to submit and
approve fraudulent unemployment benefits applications and to release benefits
payments on those false claims. According to the indictment, the defendants each
received a share of the benefits paid out by NYSDOL. The charges in the indictment are
merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven
guilty.

Todd Ward, Christopher Ward, and Resciniti appeared today before United States
Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart and were released with conditions. A fourth
defendant has yet to be arrested.

The defendants are charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. These
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.

DiVeglia pled guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges before Chief
United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby on April 13, 2022. DiVeglia admitted
responsibility for over $1.6 million in losses to NYSDOL and to personally receiving
approximately $225,000 in fraud proceeds.

The FBI and USDOL-OIG are investigating this case, with assistance from the NYSDOL
Office of Special Investigations, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph S. Hartunian and
Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting 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 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 July 20, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD


Component
USAO - New York, Northern


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