Jury convicts Georgia man accused of $16 million COVID fraud

A Cordele man faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of mail fraud tied to a unemployment scheme during the era of COVID-19.

Malcolm Jeffrey conspired with others to file more than 7,000 fraudulent unemployment claims totalling than $16 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“The defendant and his coconspirators orchestrated a scheme where they used stolen identities to submit fraudulent unemployment claims in order to steal millions of dollars of funds intended for the benefit of unemployed Americans,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The money was funneled through Jeffrey's business, Down N Dirty Transportation, LLC, the department said. The claims were distributed to Jeffrey and his coconspirators on prepaid debit cards.

“Malcolm Jeffrey and his coconspirators helped themselves to money earmarked for unemployed Georgia residents already struggling during the pandemic,” said Inspector in Charge Rodney M. Hopkins of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Atlanta Division. “Not only is he responsible for the depletion of that program’s funds, but he used stolen personal information to commit the fraud."

Jeffrey will be sentenced at a later date, the Justice Department said.

Between $100 billion and $135 billion in COVID-19 unemployment benefits were stolen, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The statute of limitations is running out on some of the fraud investigations, according to U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.

One of the cases is a nationwide scheme involving suspects in Arizona, California, Georgia, Nevada, Massachusetts, Michigan and Guam. The fraud totals $700,000. The suspects, in some cases, used the identities of incarcerated individuals, according to a news release from Smith. The statute of limitations expires in December.

The U.S. House passed a bill that would extend the statute of limitations on COVID-19 unemployment fraud cases. It is stalled in the Senate.