U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Yonkers Man Sentenced to 12 Months for Unemployment Insurance Fraud (USAO ND-NY 01/17/2024) (2024-01-18)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York, dated January 17, 2024, announcing that Errol Murray, age 22, of Yonkers, New York, was sentenced to 12 months in prison. The release states that, as part of a guilty plea, Murray admitted providing Jamie Johnson with personally identifiable information that Johnson used to file false claims with the New York State Department of Labor, which paid $69,954 in benefits. It states that Johnson previously pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $701,441 in unemployment insurance benefits, and that co-defendants Taliek Lanier and Thomas Brace were sentenced to 12 months and to time served. Senior United States District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn imposed a 3-year term of supervised release and $69,954 in restitution to the State of New York.

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Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Yonkers Man Sentenced to 12
Months for Unemployment
Insurance Fraud
Wednesday, January 17, 2024


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

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Errol Murray, age 22, of Yonkers, New York was sentenced today
to 12 months in prison for engaging in a fraudulent scheme to obtain nearly $70,000 in
unemployment insurance benefits, including benefits funded by the federal government
in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Matthew
Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI); 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 New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang.

As part of his previously entered guilty plea, Murray admitted that he provided Jamie
Johnson with his personally identifiable information (PII) and the PII of another person,
which Johnson used to file false claims online with the New York State Department of
Labor (NYSDOL). Murray further admitted that as a result of the two fraudulent
applications submitted by Johnson, the NYSDOL paid out $69,954 in unemployment
insurance benefits.

Johnson previously pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $701,441 in unemployment
insurance benefits as part of the scheme. Murray’s co-defendants, Taliek Lanier, age 23,
of Albany, and Thomas Brace, a/k/a “Justice,” age 62, of Altoona, Pennsylvania,
previously pled guilty to charges stemming from their roles in the scheme with
Johnson. Lanier was sentenced to 12 months in prison to be followed by a 3-year term
of supervised release, while Brace was sentenced to time served and 3 years of
supervised release.
Senior United States District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn also imposed a 3-year term of
supervised release, to begin after Murray is released from prison, and ordered him to
pay $69,954 in restitution to the State of New York.

This case was investigated by HSI, USDOL-OIG, USPIS, and the New York State Inspector
General’s Office, with assistance from the NYSDOL Office of Special Investigations, the
Capital Region Crime Analysis Center, and the Albany County Department of Social
Services. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua R. Rosenthal and Joseph S. Hartunian
prosecuted 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 January 17, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD
Component
USAO - New York, Northern


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