Fraudulent Unemployment Claims Scammer Caught

Baltimore, Maryland – Diameter Akala, a 43-year-old man with connections to Silver Spring, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and New York, has pleaded guilty to a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $1.4 million in unemployment benefits.

According to his plea agreement, from 2012 to 2015, Akala and his co-conspirators caused the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) to issue fraudulent unemployment benefits in the names of individuals by submitting false applications for monetary benefits. Akala enlisted his friends and family members to join him in the scheme.

Akala obtained the personally identifying information (PII) of individuals, including Maryland residents, and filed false documentation with DLLR and DLI in the names of fictitious companies, falsely stating that the fictitious companies employed and paid wages to actual individuals. In fact, no unemployment insurance taxes were ever paid to DLLR or DLI in the names of the fictitious companies.

Akala and other members of the conspiracy used residential mailing addresses of co-conspirators in Maryland, New York, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to register and receive correspondence for the fictitious companies, and apply for and receive unemployment benefits in the form of prepaid debit cards. Co-conspirators Wilfred Mendez, Tawana McClain, Ferny Alexander Moreno Puente, Wilfredo Torres, and Eric Gonzalez admitted to agreeing to have Akala file fraudulent unemployment claims in their names.

Members of the conspiracy regularly contacted DLLR and DLI, falsely representing themselves either to be a representative of one of the fictitious companies or an individual entitled to unemployment benefits. Akala moved between different states in order to retrieve correspondence addressed to fictitious companies and individuals, including prepaid debit cards issued by DLLR and DLI.

During the course of the conspiracy, Akala and his co-conspirators used the fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits prepaid debit cards to withdraw and use the funds at ATMs or stores. Some of the cards were in their names, but some of the cards were in the names of other individuals. Generally, the conspirators kept a portion of the fraudulently obtained funds for themselves and provided the remainder to Akala.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Robin Blake, of the Washington Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations; and Postal Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – Washington Division.