Mohammad Fares, COVID Fraud, New York 2020

A Buffalo man has pleaded guilty to COVID-19 unemployment benefits fraud, a scheme that saw him receive over $43,000 in illicit benefits.

Mohammad Fares, 28, formerly of Buffalo, now of Florida, was convicted of theft of government property and sentenced to serve three years supervised release, perform 200 hours of community service, and pay restitution of approximately $43,000 by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Fares submitted an online application to the New York State Department of Labor for unemployment insurance benefits on May 18, 2020, claiming he did not work any day during the week and that his workplace had closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In reality, Fares co-owned a trucking company in Buffalo, for which he managed truck drivers and coordinated shipments. He continued to manage the company while receiving over $43,000 in unemployment benefits and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

The CARES Act, a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, provided emergency financial assistance to Americans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fares took advantage of this law to defraud the system and receive benefits he was not entitled to.

The investigation into Fares’ scheme was conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations – Labor Racketeering and Fraud, Northeast Region, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud 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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