Kenny Lee Howard, $6.2M Unemployment Insurance Fraud, Michigan 2023

DETROIT, Mich. - In a brazen scheme to defraud state unemployment insurance agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic, one individual has been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison.

Kenny Lee Howard, 32, of Southfield was sentenced to 94 months in prison on April 1, 2023, for his role in a scheme to defraud state unemployment insurance agencies, announced Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck.

According to court records, between April 2020 and August 2021, Howard and his co-conspirators filed more than 700 unemployment insurance claims across five states, primarily Michigan and California.

Once the claims were processed, funds were loaded onto pre-paid debit cards and mailed to addresses controlled by the defendants. Upon receiving these debit cards, the defendants visited ATMs to withdraw cash. Roughly sixty percent of the scheme’s fraudulent claims were successful, resulting in a loss of $6,336,575 to state unemployment insurance agencies.

The scheme, which if all the fraudulent claims had been approved, would have resulted in a loss exceeding $11,000,000.

Howard was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The case remains pending as to co-defendant Steven van Ware, while co-defendant Keila Howard has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

David Davis, 27, of Detroit, was previously sentenced and received 30 months in custody.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/ringleader-62m-unemployment-insurance-fraud-sentenced-nearly-8-years-prison