Six defendants involved in a scheme to defraud the United States through fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims pleaded guilty in federal court, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.
The defendants, including Josef Ludwig Brown 43 Crystal Samantha Shaw 39, Jonathan Scott Webb 40, Christopher Kirk Webb 39, and Stephanie Amber Barton 30 all from Virginia, admitted to conspiring to defraud the government by illegally claiming emergency pandemic benefits.
Haleigh McKenzie Wolfe 30 of Cedar Bluff also pleaded guilty for her role in the fraudulent claims. Court documents reveal that from March 2020 to September 2021, the defendants conspired with others to submit false claims for pandemic unemployment benefits while incarcerated, rendering them ineligible for such benefits.
Brown, noted as a lead defendant, solicited personal identifying information from co-conspirators while in jail, which he then provided to Shaw, who filed the fraudulent claims. Collectively, the Virginia Employment Commission disbursed over $340,000 in fraudulent pandemic relief benefits among 17 individuals charged in the conspiracy.
This investigation is part of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee PRAC Task Force, led by the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, which aims to detect fraud, waste, and abuse within the extensive COVID-19 relief spending exceeding $5 trillion.
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