$1.5M Wire Fraud Scheme Leads To Prison Sentence For Laurel Man

PRINCE GEORGE'S, MD — A 29-year-old Laurel man has been sentenced for his role in a wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft scheme totaling more than $1.5 million.

According to Michael Akame Ngwese Ay Makoge's plea agreement, from March 2020 to October 2021, he and his co-conspirators impersonated victims to submit fraudulent claims for pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits in Maryland and California. As part of the scheme, Makoge and his co-conspirators obtained the birthdates, social security numbers and other personal identifying information of numerous victims that they used on fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits.

Various financial institutions then loaded unemployment insurance benefits onto debit cards and mailed the cards to the addresses created by Makoge and his co-conspirators who used the debit cards for cash withdrawals and other purchases, court documents showed.

A search at Makoge’s residence on Feb. 16, 2021, recovered 11 unemployment insurance debit cards in the names of six victims from a bedroom. Makoge and two other co-conspirators were present at the time of the search. The investigation also revealed numerous text messages between Makoge and his co-conspirators exchanging the personal information of victims and discussing the fraud scheme, his plea agreement stated.

Makoge also made numerous ATM withdrawals using the identities of victims, personally obtaining at least $35,540 in the scheme. Additional accounts were opened using the victims' identities, too, according to court documents.

Makoge has been sentenced to 53 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. He also was ordered to forfeit more than $297,400 and to pay restitution of $2,094,319.

Of the 11 defendants charged in this fraud scheme, five have pleaded guilty and two have been sentenced.