A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging a Maryland man on federal charges related to a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $1 million in unemployment benefits.
On May 22, 2024, a grand jury returned an indictment of Mervyn Fombe Abiko, aka Magic, a 35-year-old Maryland man with conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The indictment was unsealed today upon the arrest of the defendant.
The defendant had an initial appearance on October 2, 2024, in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore before U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Aslan.
As detailed in the indictment, employment insurance was a joint state and federal program that provided monetary benefits to eligible beneficiaries. UI payments were intended to provide temporary financial assistance to lawful workers who were unemployed through no fault of their own.
Beginning in or around March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several federal programs expanded UI eligibility and increased UI benefits, including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and the Lost Wages Assistance Program (LWAP).
In Maryland, those seeking UI benefits submitted online applications. Applicants had to answer specific questions to establish eligibility to receive UI benefits, including their name, Social Security Number (SSN), and mailing address, among other things.
Applicants also had to self-certify that they met a COVID-19-related reason for being unemployed, partially employed, or unable to work. MD-DOL relied upon the information in the application to determine UI benefits eligibility.
Once an application was approved, the MD-DOL typically distributed state and federal UI benefits electronically to a BOA debit card, which claimants could use to withdraw funds and/or make purchases.
According to the indictment, from March 2020 through January 2021, Abiko and others, including Martin Tabe and Gladstone Njokem, conspired to impersonate victim individuals in order to submit fraudulent UI claims.
To accomplish this, Abiko and others obtained the personally identifiable information of victims and used that information to file UI applications, which resulted in debit cards being issued in the names of victims that were loaded with benefits. Abiko and others used those debit cards in point-of-sale transactions and at ATMs. Abiko and others collectively obtained more than $1 million through this scheme.
If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for each of the three counts of wire fraud. The defendant faces a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for each of the three counts of aggravated identity theft.
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.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
