The Maryland Department of Justice announced that a man has been charged with filing more than $1 million in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.
Marvin Fombe Abiko, known as “Magic,” is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
Following the man’s arrest, the full indictment was made public on October 5th.
“Beginning around March 2020, several federal programs, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and lost wages, were implemented in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Expanded UI eligibility and increased UI benefits (LWAP),” MDJ wrote in a statement.
From March 2020 to January 2021, Abiko and others, including Martin Tabe and Gladstone Njokem, took advantage of expanded UI eligibility to fraudulently impersonate Maryland residents. filed a UI claim.
“To accomplish this, Mr. Abiko and his colleagues obtained the personally identifiable information (PII) of the victims and used that information to submit UI applications in the victims’ names, which were loaded with benefits. A debit card has been issued,” MDJ wrote. .
In total, the group raised more than $1 million in relief funds.
An indictment does not result in a conviction because a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
