Medical men indicted for unemployment insurance fraud during pandemic

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Two Maryland men have been indicted in a fraud scheme to obtain more than $1 million in unemployment insurance benefits.

In an indictment unsealed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, a federal grand jury charged Daiwor Woah-Tee and Dekwii Woah-Tee with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for their fraud scheme in during the pandemic.

According to the indictment, from March 2020 to September 2021, the Woah-Tees impersonated individuals for the purpose of submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims. The two allegedly used the victims’ personally identifiable information, including name, date of birth and/or social security number to file claims for unemployment insurance benefits.

The Maryland State Attorney’s Office declined to comment. Dekwii Woah-Tee’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Unemployment insurance payments were intended to provide temporary financial assistance to workers who were unemployed through no fault of their own. In March 2020 and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several federal programs expanded unemployment insurance eligibility and increased unemployment benefits.

In Maryland, according to the indictment, those seeking unemployment benefits filed online applications, where applicants answered questions to determine eligibility, including providing their name, Social Security number and mailing address, among other things.

The Maryland Department of Labor relied on the information in the application to determine eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits. According to the indictment, once a claim was approved, the Maryland Department of Labor typically distributed state and federal unemployment insurance benefits electronically to a debit card, which claimants could use to withdraw funds and/or to make purchases.

The indictment alleges that the Woah-Tees caused Bank of America, the bank providing the debit cards, to mail debit cards loaded with unemployment insurance benefits from false and fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to physical addresses in Maryland and other parties, in addition to causing Bank of America to charge funds from the Maryland Department of Labor to debit cards bearing the names of victims of aggravated identity theft.

The Woah-Tees then used these debit cards to get money and make purchases.

A spokesman for the Maryland Department of Labor did not immediately respond to The Daily Record’s requests for comment.

If convicted, the Woah-Tees face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud conspiracy, while aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison to run consecutively to any other punishments.