Michael Rosa, 62, of Salem, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a brazen scheme that exploited the pandemic-era unemployment system, federal prosecutors revealed today. Rosa’s admission in U.S. District Court in Concord marks a hard-fought win in a case that reeks of pandemic profiteering.
The scam unfolded at the height of the national crisis in March 2020, when Congress rolled out emergency unemployment benefits for workers crushed by pandemic fallout. Rosa, who controlled Enviromart and KSC Industrial in Plaistow, saw not desperation—but opportunity. Alongside co-defendant George Adyns, he directed employees to file for unemployment benefits while still on the job, effectively double-dipping at taxpayer expense.
Those fraudulent claims funneled nearly $50,000 from New Hampshire Employment Security (NHES), the state agency tasked with managing the unemployment program. The scheme relied on deception and manipulation of federal relief protocols, turning lifelines meant for the jobless into slush funds for business owners unwilling to bear the economic burden themselves.
Adyns copped to his role earlier, pleading guilty on May 25, 2022, and is set for sentencing on February 15, 2023. Rosa now faces his own day of reckoning, scheduled for May 10, 2023. Both men are staring down federal prison time, restitution, and a permanent stain on their records.
The investigation was a multi-agency takedown involving the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General, New Hampshire Employment Security, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, and critical support from the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Fraud on this scale doesn’t slip through without coordinated muscle.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew T. Hunter and Alexander S. Chen are prosecuting the case, underscoring the DOJ’s continued crackdown on pandemic fraud. This isn’t just a paperwork crime—it’s theft from a system built for survival. And Rosa, like others before him, is learning that the feds don’t forget.”
Related Federal Cases
- Salem Man Pleads Guilty to Pandemic Unemployment Fraud · New Hampshire
- Dual Citizen Pleads Guilty in $12M Wire Fraud Scam · New York
- Arnold Hanson Sentenced in $12M Bank Fraud · New Hampshire
- Cecil Sylvester Chester Sentenced in $1.4M Baltimore Mortgage Fraud · Maryland
- Elvis Barban Chavez and Dairon Jimenez Roja Guilty of Credit Card Fraud · Massachusetts
Key Facts
- State: New Hampshire
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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