William Shakespeare’s dramatic monologue that begins with “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” presents the stages of man from birth until death. A fraudster, who used a dramatic plan to create fake event production companies, discovered he was in the midst of the fifth stage of life—justice—after his illegal escapades, and he is now faced with going to prison for bilking unemployment benefits from two different state agencies.
The fraudster at the center of this case stole more than $1.4 million from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry by filing false documentation that stated he owned two event production companies that actually did not exist. (For two years, he claimed that he employed 76 people at one company and 31 at the other.)
Along with co-conspirators located in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the mastermind set up a total of eight companies that never paid any unemployment insurance to either of the state labor departments. In order to collect unemployment benefits, all of the co-conspirators pretended to be employees who were laid off. (In total, the criminals netted $1,468,463 in unemployment benefits in the form of prepaid debit cards that could be used at ATMs or retail stores.)
He also paid others for the use of personal information so he could apply for unemployment benefits that were supposed to be designated for people who were actually laid off. (Not for people who acted like they were out of a job.)
The 43-year-old leader pleaded guilty to fraud charges. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison plus other penalties for identity theft.
Congratulations to the Maryland Identity Theft Working Group, which gets credit for closing the curtains on this badly directed fraudulent production. As Shakespeare’s drama suggests, each stage requires a man to play a new role; this man’s next gig will mostly likely be the role of a prisoner. (Although it’s not an opportunity to perform on Broadway, there may be many opportunities to be dramatic.)
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