$1.3M Fraud Case Tied To COVID-19 CARES Act Prompts Prince George's Man To Plead Guilty

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A 36-year-old Hyattsville man has entered a guilty plea to federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $1.3 million in COVID-19 CARES Act unemployment insurance benefits.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It expanded states’ ability to provide unemployment insurance for many workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including workers who are not ordinarily eligible for unemployment benefits.

According to Gladstone Njokem's guilty plea, from February 2020 through February 2021, Njokem, co-defendants, Martin Tabe and Sylvester Atekwane, and others conspired to impersonate victims in order to obtain money, including by submitting fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits. Njokem and his co-conspirators collected the personally identifiable information of victims, without the victims’ knowledge or consent, then shared the personal information among themselves and with others to facilitate the fraud. They then used the victims’ personally identifiable information to submit fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits in Maryland, Arizona, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia.

In total, at least $1,313,325 in unemployment benefits that were applied for using the names and personally identifiable information of more than 183 victims can be traced to Njokem’s conspiracy based on common IP addresses, mailing addresses and/or email addresses used for the fraudulent unemployment insurance claims, according to court documents.

Njokem and the government have agreed that, if the court accepts the plea agreement, Njokem will be sentenced to between 24 and 70 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for May 17 at 11 a.m.

Co-defendants Martin Tabe, 34, of Bowie, and Sylvester Atekwane, 33, of Hyattsville previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for Atekwane on April 13 at 11 a.m. and for Tabe on May 2 at 11 a.m.