The Postal Employee at the Center of a $54M Pandemic Relief Fraud
During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people across the nation witnessed acts of kindness and heroism every day. From neighbors helping neighbors, to courageous medical personnel, first responders, and trusted Postal Service workers risking their lives to bring life-sustaining aid to others — they stood as a beacon of hope in times of darkness.
Fraudsters, however, seized the pandemic as an opportunity to enact the greatest theft of taxpayer money in U.S. history. In Georgia, a criminal organization responsible for one of the most egregious cases of pandemic relief fraud was unfortunately bolstered by a postal employee. Together they colluded to steal an astonishing $54 million in pandemic relief funds.
The Georgia Department of Labor (GA DOL) initially contacted the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (USDOL OIG) regarding a significant number of claims made in a small town in southern Georgia. GA DOL reported that about 70 percent of the town’s residents were receiving pandemic relief unemployment benefits.
The USDOL OIG opened its case in August 2021 after it uncovered a network of individuals in Cordele were submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to at least 46 state workforce agencies. And once GA DOL approved the claims submitted to it, it paid out benefits through unemployment debit cards sent via mail. Investigators determined rather quickly that many of the reported business addresses could not be legitimate based on the number of stated employees and locations.
People can sometimes underestimate the power of a whistleblower, but that’s what led to our special agents’ involvement: an anonymous tip to our Hotline alleged a mail carrier was colluding with the crime syndicate to intercept debit cards and related paperwork in exchange for cash.
Investigators found the carrier targeted vacant addresses along her route and passed that information on to her co-conspirators. Many addresses she used were vacant run-down houses or empty lots with no structure at all. As an example, the group claimed a business at a vacant lot employed over 1,000 people.
In all, the group created about 35 fictitious employer accounts and filed over 7,000 individual claims with GA DOL. And the employee’s complicity went beyond her role as a messenger: she also obtained multiple Paycheck Protection Program loans for businesses that didn’t exist.
Our special agents arrested the employee in October 2022, and along with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners apprehended 14 external co-conspirators. Prosecutors charged all 15 suspects with one or more crimes — from conspiracy to commit mail fraud to aggravated identity theft, to money laundering.
A federal court sentenced the former mail carrier to three years’ probation and over $512,000 in restitution. The other 14 accomplices were sentenced to a combined total of almost 58 years in prison and were ordered to pay a combined total of over $45 million in restitution to their victims.
If you know of pandemic relief fraud, please report it to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s Hotline. And if you know of this or any other financial fraud involving Postal Service employees or contractors, please report it to our Hotline.
“When even one postal employee chooses to betray the American public’s trust, it harms our communities and undermines the dedication of thousands of honest workers who deliver the mail, especially in times of need. This case shows that our office will pursue the truth relentlessly, hold wrongdoers accountable, and protect the public’s faith in the Postal Service.”
– Tammy L. Hull
Inspector General,
U.S. Postal Service
Just how big was this investigation?
Big enough to involve eight government and law enforcement agencies! Our Office of Investigations partnered with fellow special agents at the Department of Labor OIG and the Department of Homeland Security OIG. They also worked closely with investigators from the U.S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.