A former state employee has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for taking bribes in exchange for approving fraudulent unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Danielle Moore, of Detroit, was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Monday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, Moore was assigned by the Michigan Works Agency to work as a claims examiner for the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency at the onset of the pandemic. She admitted to prosecutors that she took bribes to look the other way and allow at least 40 fraudulent claims to be approved.
In all, because of Moore, the state wrongfully paid out more than $1.5 million. She will also be required to pay that money back in restitution.
Jason Palmer, who was named UIA director in February, says the agency holds its employees to lofty standards and Moore fell well short of them.
“When a staff member breaks that trust for personal gain, it is particularly disappointing,” Palmer said in a statement. “Danielle Moore used her insider status to help steal money meant for fellow Michiganders who relied on their jobless benefits to survive. She failed her colleagues and failed the taxpayers of Michigan and is now being held accountable for her selfish acts.” --->READ MORE HERE
A federal jury in Texas convicted a former Phoenix news anchor of conspiring to defraud the government of COVID-19 relief money after a weeklong trial.
Stephanie Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, co-founded Blueacorn, a financial technology company that helped businesses apply for the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended to aid struggling businesses during pandemic restrictions.
Hockridge worked as an anchor for ABC15 in Phoenix for seven years before leaving television in 2018.
She and Reis were accused of fabricating documents to apply for hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans for which they weren’t eligible.
The couple then created a service dubbed “VIPPP,” where they coached borrowers on how to file fraudulent PPP loan applications and received kickbacks tied to the loan size, according to their indictment.
A jury found Hockridge guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud but not guilty of four counts of wire fraud. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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