Maryland man admits to $1.3 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme

BALTIMORE — An investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General led to a Hyattsville, Maryland man pleading guilty to his part in a scheme to fraudulently obtain at least $1.3 million in COVID-19 emergency relief benefits. 

Gladstone Njokem, 36, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on Feb. 3, in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $1.3 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act unemployment insurance benefits.  

Enacted in March 2020, the CARES Act provided 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 pandemic, including for workers who were not ordinarily eligible for unemployment benefits.

According to the joint investigation, from February 2020 through February 2021, Njokem and his co-defendants conspired to impersonate victims to obtain money, including by submitting fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits. Njokem and his co-conspirators collected victims’ personal identifiable information, without the victims’ knowledge or consent, then shared it between themselves and with others to facilitate the fraud. Then, they used the victims’ information to submit fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits in Maryland, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C. 

In total, Njokem and his co-conspirators applied for at least $1,313,325 in unemployment insurance benefits using the names and personal identifiable information of more than 183 victims. Law enforcement officials traced the information to Njokem’s conspiracy based on common IP addresses, mailing addresses and email addresses used for the fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.

Njokem’s is expected to serve between 24 and 70 months in federal prison. His sentencing has been scheduled for May 17.

Co-defendants Martin Tabe, 34, of Bowie, Maryland and Sylvester Atekwane, 33, of Hyattsville, Maryland previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud scheme and will be sentenced in the coming months. 

This was a joint COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force investigation conducted by HSI Baltimore, the U.S. Postal Service’s Washington Division, the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, the Prince George’s County Police Department, the Baltimore County Police Department and the Maryland Department of Labor. 

Established in May 2021, the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force marshals the resources of cooperating law-enforcement agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. 

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it to HSI by calling the HSI tip line at 866-347-2423. The HSI tip line is manned 24 hours a day.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.