The DOJ announced that Tyshion Nautese Hicks, of Vienna, Georgia, was just sentenced to 12 years in prison for her role in a $30 million COVID-19 unemployment scheme. Hicks, along with six co-conspirators, were indicted in 2022 for, amongst other things, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, joint state and federal programs expanded unemployment insurance eligibility and benefits to aid individuals impacted by COVID-19 related unemployment. According to evidence presented in court, Hicks and her co-conspirators defrauded the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) by submitting over 5,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims between March 2020 and November 2022.
Hicks and her co-conspirators used personal identifiable information (PII) from victims of identity thefts and created fictitious employers to submit the foregoing fraudulent insurance claims to the GaDOL. The PII was obtained from local health care providers and through the dark web. Sophisticated in their approach, Hicks and her co-conspirators used the victims’ PII to have unemployment insurance benefits disbursed via debit cards. In turn, they paid a local U.S. Postal Service carrier to divert mail carrying the loaded debit cards into their possession.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division commented that Hicks’ scheme is “one of the largest COVID fraud schemes ever prosecuted[…]”. Hicks, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, will now serve 12 years in prison. This sentence also includes an unrelated charge of illegal possession of a machine gun. Hicks’s co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.
The attorneys at Chilivis Grubman represents clients of all sizes and types in white-collar criminal investigations. If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us today.