SC and FL Residents Sentenced for COVID-19 UI Fraud

HI INDIA NEWS DESK
FLORENCE, SC— Mohammed Ribhi Farraj, 43, of Florence, South Carolina, and Marvet Masoud, 34, of Homestead, Florida, were recently sentenced to federal prison for their role in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two individuals, along with others, were found to have submitted fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits in four different states, Arizona, New York, Florida, and South Carolina, using the personal information of other individuals, sometimes without their knowledge.

The investigation uncovered a total of 69 fraudulent claims, resulting in a total loss of $454,074.00 in unemployment insurance funds. Farraj was sentenced to ten months in prison with five months to be served in the Bureau of Prisons and five months to be served on home detention with location monitoring, followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision, and was ordered to pay $604,074.00 in restitution. Masoud was sentenced to 24 months of probation and ordered to pay $454,074.00 in restitution.

The case was investigated by several government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Small Business Administration. The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established by the Attorney General, is working to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. If you have any information about fraud involving COVID-19, you can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or by using the NCDF Web Complaint Form.