Joseph Osei, Pandemic-Related Unemployment Insurance Benefits Fraud, New York 2020

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Joseph Osei Charged with Pandemic Fraud, Jamaica NY, 2024

A 29-year-old man from Jamaica, New York, has been charged with pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits fraud using stolen identities.

Joseph Osei, a/k/a ‘Kyngjo,’ was indicted on mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for his alleged scheme to obtain unemployment insurance benefits worth more than $100,000 in the names of four other people.

The indictment alleges that Osei committed the crimes between August 2020 and November 2020.

Osei appeared in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday and was released pending an arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Christian F. Hummel on February 6, 2024, in Albany.

The investigation into Osei’s scheme was a joint effort by the United States Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New York Field Office and the New York State Department of Labor’s Office of Special Investigations.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander P. Wentworth-Ping and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting the case.

The mail fraud charges 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.

The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory term of 2 years in prison, to be imposed consecutively to any other term of imprisonment.

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