From the Times Leader of Scranton, Pennsylvania:
A former employee with Social Security Administration was sentenced to three years in federal prison for pandemic relief fraud.
U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion sentenced Takiyah Gordon Austin, 47, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, to three years in federal prison and three years of supervised release on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam.
Austin was also ordered to pay $288,590 in restitution.
Austin, as a claims specialist, filed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims for ineligible recipients in exchange for payment from the individuals, according to a news release. …
People like that, the ones' that "fraud from within", should be banned from collecting their SSA, regardless of circumstances or age. It may sound brutal, but if a claimant commits fraud they'd lose their benefits, at least for a certain amount of time.
ReplyDelete@516. I found it interesting that the person used SSA information to commit fraud but the fraud wasn't to get SSA/SSI benefits.
DeleteDon’t really agree 5:16. She’s doing 3 years in prison plus restitution. This is way stiffer than anything a Boeing exec would ever face.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the government will also move to revoke her FERS pension eligibility and then garnish her refunded retirement pension contributions towards her restitution debt.
ReplyDelete