Yvonette Joseph, Theft of Government Money, Massachusetts 2021

Yvonette Joseph, a 45-year-old woman from Minneapolis, Minnesota, was arrested on August 26, 2025, and charged with theft of government money for allegedly receiving over $100,000 in emergency rental assistance funds intended for COVID-19 relief in Massachusetts.

According to court records, in November 2021, Joseph received the funds from the California Department of Housing & Community Development, the administrator of the ERA program for the state of California, after purported tenants submitted applications identifying her as the landlord of a property in Los Angeles.

Upon receipt of the funds, Joseph allegedly wired a portion of the funds to a bank account in Nigeria and converted the remainder of the funds to her own use.

The charge of theft of government money provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, forfeiture, and restitution.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Loren J. Sciurba, Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General, made the announcement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

Joseph will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts 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 by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the NCDF Hotline via the online form.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program was established in 2021 by Congress to provide financial assistance to eligible low-income households to cover the costs of rent, rental arrears, utilities, and other house-related expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.