Ambulai R. Sheku, 37, of Providence, a former Senior Employment Interviewer with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT), has agreed to plead guilty to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, theft of government funds and accessing a protected computer to commit fraud.
According to documents filed in federal court in Providence, Sheku used his position at DLT and his authorized access to DLT computer files to participate in a scheme to make unauthorized changes to benefit recipients’ files. This resulted in the fraudulent disbursement of more than $508,000 of unemployment insurance benefits between June 2009 and February 2015.
Charges filed in this matter are announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Lieutenant Colonel Kevin M. Barry, Acting Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police; and Michael C. Mikulka, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Region of the Department of Labor – Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.
Sheku allegedly used his authorized access to DLT computers and computer files to obtain unemployment benefits for himself and others to which they were not entitled. The scheme involved changing the mailing addresses of legitimate unemployment insurance beneficiaries, thus causing banks to mail unemployment insurance benefits to individuals not entitled to receive them.
The scheme also involved extending the expiration of benefits for members of the conspiracy without authorization, causing fraudulent claims to be approved and dispersed, increasing the balance of unemployment insurance benefits, and fraudulently removing blocks or “stops” on benefit payments. This allowed coconspirators to continue receiving benefits to which they were not entitled.
The alleged scheme resulted in a loss to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training of approximately $508,691, of which approximately $350,606 were federal funds. Sheku made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond.
The matter continues to be investigated by the United States Attorney’s Office, Rhode Island State Police and the U.S. Department of Labor, with the assistance of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence P. Donnelly.
For more information, contact Jim Martin at (401) 709-5357 or email USARI.Media@usdoj.gov. You can also follow @USAO_RI on Twitter for updates on this case.
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Key Facts
- State: Rhode Island
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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