Rocco Resciniti, Unemployment Insurance Fraud, New York 2024

Rocco Resciniti, a/k/a ‘Rock,’ age 50, of Colonie, New York, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the New York State Department of Labor by obtaining unemployment insurance benefits under the name of another person, including benefits funded by the federal government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resciniti admitted that he provided Carl J. DiVeglia III with the personal identifying information of three individuals, which DiVeglia used to file false claims via the NYSDOL website. As a result of the fraudulent applications submitted by DiVeglia, the NYSDOL paid $69,718 in unemployment insurance benefits.

According to the investigation, Resciniti further admitted that he agreed to pay $69,718 in restitution to the State of New York as part of his plea agreement. DiVeglia previously pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $1.6 million in unemployment insurance benefits as part of the scheme.

The FBI and USDOL-OIG are investigating this case, with assistance from the NYSDOL Office of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph S. Hartunian and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting the case.

Resciniti faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years when he is sentenced on July 18, 2024 by United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby.

The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was established by the Attorney General on May 17, 2021, to marshal the resources of the government to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s 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.

Related Federal Cases