FLORIDA – A convicted Florida fraudster has been sentenced for a COVID-related unemployment insurance scam, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO) has announced.
Marlin Jean, 31, has been sentenced to 88 months in prison for stealing other people’s identities to fraudulently obtain $826,332 in COVID-19-related unemployment benefits from the State of California, the USAO said.
From August 2020 through October 2021, Jean reportedly spearheaded a scheme to use the stolen identities of dozens of Florida and California residents (among others) to fraudulently open accounts in their names with the California Employment Development Division (“EDD”). Jean then directed the EDD to mail the unemployment benefits, issued in the form of pre-paid debit cards, to addresses throughout South Florida, the USAO said.
According to prosecutors, acquaintances collected the cards for Jean to use for his personal benefit. Jean committed the crime soon after completing a federal sentence on a separate 2016 fraud conviction.
Jean pled guilty on December 21, 2022, to one count of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft. In addition to his prison sentence, Jean has been ordered to pay $826,332 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and acting Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Buckley, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman.
HSI Miami investigated the case with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Miami Beach Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eduardo Gardea Jr. prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Paster is handling asset forfeiture.
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.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 22-cr-20018.
