Ringleader In Federal Fraud Case Involving San Leandro Man Sentenced

OAKLAND, CA — The ringleader in a federal fraud case that involved the theft of more than $2 million, much of the fraud run through San Leandro, has been sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison.

Ratha Yin was sentenced last month to 55 months in prison for his part in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a scheme to defraud the State of California by filing unemployment claims in the names of other people, according to the US Attorney's Office.

According to Yin's plea agreement, from June of 2020 to at least September of 2021, Yin conspired with Steven Mavromatis, 28, of San Leandro, and others, including his wife, Amanda Yin, 33, of Indio, Calif., to submit fraudulent claims to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) for unemployment insurance.

Ratha Yin admitted that he was an inmate housed in the California State Prison at Centinela in Imperial, Calif., when he devised the scheme. He used the identities of people from whom he did not obtain permission to fraudulently obtain funds being administered as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (the CARES Act) — meant to provide unemployment insurance to people who had lost their jobs due to the economic slow-down resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the program, people were permitted to submit claims for unemployment to EDD online and qualified applicants were able to receive benefits by mail on pre-loaded debit cards.

Ratha Yin admitted in his plea agreement that he used at least 136 different individuals’ personally identifiable information to claim EDD funds in their names. Most of the people whose identities he used were incarcerated at prisons and other facilities throughout the country.

Yin admitted he directed Mavromatis to create email addresses for people whose identities he had obtained and then used the email addresses to submit claims to the EDD online system. After receiving acknowledgements from EDD, Yin certified many of the fraudulent unemployment insurance claims and directed Mavromatis to certify other claims, as well.

In addition, Yin further directed Marvomatis to rent mailboxes at, among other places, a UPS Store in San Leandro, to receive the debit cards on which the unemployment benefits were pre-loaded. Mavromatis and at least four other individuals then used the debit cards to withdraw the fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance funds in cash from ATMs. A portion of the fraudulently obtained funds were provided to Yin’ wife who, at Yin’s direction, deposited the cash into various financial accounts, including cryptocurrency wallets, controlled by her or others.

Ratha Yin admitted that he and the others involved in the scheme obtained at least $2,646,221 through the fraud.

On November 10, 2022, Amanda Yin pled guilty to conspiracy to launder proceeds of fraud and Steven Mavromatis pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers sentenced Amanda Yin and Mavromatis for their respective roles in the conspiracy, and scheduled a hearing on October 5, 2023, to determine restitution. Amanda Yin was sentenced to five years’ probation, including eight months of home detention. Mavromatis was sentenced to time served (6 days) and five years of supervised release.

The case is being prosecuted by the Special Prosecutions Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. This case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor-Office of the Inspector General, the California EDD, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Bay Area Special Service Unit, and the Centinela State Prison Investigative Service’s Unit.