A Duluth man has pleaded guilty to a COVID-19 relief fraud scheme that saw him allegedly steal over $250,000 from the government.
Jared John Fiege, 34, devised and executed a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 relief through Unemployment Insurance (UI) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program between April 2020 and August 2020.
According to his guilty plea, Fiege submitted fraudulent applications for UI benefits and EIDL assistance by using stolen names, birth dates, and social security numbers of at least 20 individuals.
In applying for EIDL assistance and advances, Fiege also invented fictional business entities, which he linked to the identities of real persons without their knowledge or consent.
Fiege possessed multiple cell phones and registered numerous email addresses which he used to impersonate others.
Fiege also impersonated others by using fraudulent passports as a means of identity verification.
Fiege established false bank accounts and requested bank cards to be issued by mail to other people’s addresses, which he would then steal from their mailboxes along with other mail allowing him to withdraw significant amounts of cash from those accounts.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Duluth Police Department.
Fiege is facing charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the 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.
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Key Facts
- State: Minnesota
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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