SACRAMENTO — An unemployment scam operated out of California prisons sought a record $25 million from the state and U.S. governments, netting more than $5 million that went for vehicles, furniture, handbags, and jewelry, federal authorities said Friday.
The $25 million is the largest known single intended haul in California, said former U.S. attorney McGregor Scott, who is working with the state Employment Development Department to coordinate investigations into fraud related to pandemic relief.
Yet it and the $5 million actual loss remains a fraction of the more than $20 billion in unemployment benefits that authorities believe has been stolen since March 2020 as the state-approved fraudulent payments in the names of death row inmates and even U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Related Story: Fresno Man, Inmate Plead Guilty to COVID Unemployment Fraud
Accused Inmates at Prisons in Delano, Tehachapi
Inmates Daryol Richmond, 31, and Telvin Breaux, 30, both from Los Angeles County, falsely claimed that they and others including minor children had been selling clothing or working as handymen, mechanics or in other jobs until they became unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new indictment alleges.
Richmond is imprisoned at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, serving a nearly 25-year sentence as a repeat offender for robbery and attempted robbery with various enhancements, according to corrections officials.
Breaux is in the California Correctional Institution in…
