Troy Man Indicted for COVID Unemployment Fraud

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jaliyl McMillan, age 33, of Troy, New York, was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Matthew Scarpino of the Buffalo Field Office; U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region (USDOL-OIG) Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone; U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Boston Division Postal Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward; and New York State Inspector General (NYSIG) Lucy Lang.

McMillan was arraigned today in Albany, before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, and ordered detained pending a detention hearing.

The indictment alleges that between July 2020 and August 2021, McMillan perpetrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits from the New York State Department of Labor using stolen identities.  This scheme caused the electronic transfer of funds between states as well as the mailing of debit cards to an address McMillan directed.  To execute the scheme, McMillan possessed individuals’ names, dates of birth, and social security numbers.

The mail and wire fraud charges filed against McMillan carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison; a fine of up to $250,000; and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years.  If convicted of the aggravated identity theft charges, McMillan would face an additional 2-year-term of incarceration which must, by law, run consecutively to any term imposed on the fraud charges.

The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

HSI, USDOL-OIG, USPIS and NYSIG are investigating the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Reiner is prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.