On May 24, 2023, Jeffrey Brown, Deputy Assistant Inspector General, Office of Audits, Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG), testified before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee hearing on SSA’s role in combatting identity fraud. “The Social Security number (SSN) has essentially become the cornerstone…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington: Seattle – A former Seattle resident who defrauded federal COVID-19 benefit programs of more than $1 million was sentenced today to 100 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Bryan Alan Sparks, 42, was indicted for the fraud…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Puerto Rico: SAN JUAN, P.R. – On May 17, 2023, a Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned six separate indictments charging six individuals with engaging in fraud to obtainPandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits totaling $350,616, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania: PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Ardavan Alamoutinia, 33, of Hummelstown, PA, and Aryanah Davison, 23, of Harrisburg, PA, were charged by Indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, ten counts of mail fraud, one count of…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Puerto Rico: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – United States District Court Judge Pedro A. Delgado sentenced Gilberto J. Meléndez-Colón to two years and three months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,396,008.47. Meléndez-Colón pleaded guilty…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana: NEW ORLEANS – LINDA REED HILL (“HILL”), age 76, of Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced on May 16, 2023 for Theft of Government Funds in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, announced United States Attorney Duane A. Evans. According to documents filed in federal…

From the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office: Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that an upstate New York man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for killing his girlfriend, dismembering her body, and throwing it in the garbage so he could collect her Social Security benefits. The woman’s body was never…

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington: Seattle – A former Washington State resident who now resides in Texas was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 months in prison for Aggravated Identity Theft and Bank Fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Jeanne Ang Rather, 51, was indicted in May…