A man from Detroit, Michigan was sentenced last week for his role in a multi-state, million-dollar unemployment insurance fraud scheme aimed at defrauding the U.S. government and the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, of funds earmarked for unemployment assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck.
Tracey Dotson, 49, was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $900,000 in restitution in the sentence handed down by United States District Judge Matthew F. Leitman.
According to court records, Dotson and a co-defendant conspired to, and did, defraud the federal government and the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Maryland of roughly $1 million in funds intended to support individuals who had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair committed their crimes through the use of interstate wires and the unauthorized possession and use of social security numbers and other means of identification belonging to other individuals.
Dotson pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in April 2024. Dotson and his co-defendant, using stolen personal identification, filed hundreds of false unemployment claims with state unemployment insurance agencies in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Maryland in the names of other individuals without their knowledge or consent.
The defendants then received hundreds of Bank of America prepaid debit cards in the names of those individuals loaded with roughly $1 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds at addresses in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Dotson, his co-defendant, and their accomplices then successfully unloaded more than $930,000 from the cards via cash withdrawals and purchases that included high-end jewelry, designer fashion accessories by Gucci and Louis Vuitton, drugs, at least one vehicle, and at least one firearm.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Carl D. Gilmer-Hill and Jessica A. Nathan. The investigation was conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan
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