A Woodbridge man has pleaded guilty to pandemic unemployment insurance fraud in Virginia. Osman Kanu, a 26-year-old resident of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining pandemic unemployment benefits from the state of California.
According to court documents, from August 2020 to on or about September 28, 2020, Kanu executed a scheme to defraud the California Employment Development Department (California EDD) by filing at least 15 fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) applications using the personal identifying information (PII) of victims. On each of these applications, the defendant knowingly made false statements and false certifications to mislead California EDD.
Kanu committed this fraud from Virginia, where he did not live during the scheme or qualify for California EDD benefits. The California EDD funds loaded on the prepaid debit cards were derived from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, and from funds made available by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator to provide grants to participating states, territories, and the District of Columbia to administer delivery of lost wages assistance.
In total, California EDD funded $308,400 to the prepaid debit cards. The total intended loss was $628,708. Kanu withdrew $178,000 from the prepaid debit cards between late August and September 2020.
Kanu is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The investigation was led by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Arlington County Police Department.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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