Woodbridge Man Pleads Guilty In Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Scheme

WOODBRIDGE, VA — A Woodbridge man pleaded guilty this week to illegally obtaining pandemic unemployment benefits from California, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia.

The suspect, 26-year-old Osman Kanu, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1. Based on federal sentencing guidelines, he could face up t0 30 years in prison.

Court documents showed that Kanu's scheme ran from August 2020 to September 2020. In that time, he filed 15 fraudulent unemployment insurance applications to the California Employment Development Department, authorities said.

Prosecutors claimed that Kanu used the personal information of real people in his fraudulent application. Kanu lived in Virginia in 2020 and was not eligible for California's unemployment benefits.

"During a lawful traffic stop on Kanu’s vehicle, law enforcement discovered 15 visa debit cards with different names on each of them," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in news release. "After further investigation, federal law enforcement determined that the debit cards provided access to UI funds provided by California EDD and Kanu was arrested."

Authorities said California sent $308,400 to the prepaid debit cards. In August and September 2020, Kanu withdrew $178,000 from the debit cards.