A Georgia woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her involvement in a scheme that defrauded the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) out of millions intended for unemployed individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tyshion Nautese Hicks, 32, from Vienna, was also given three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution. The exact amount will be determined later. Her sentence includes an additional three-year term related to illegal possession of a machine gun.
Court documents revealed that between March 2020 and November 2022, Hicks and her co-conspirators filed over 5,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims with GaDOL, resulting in at least $30 million in stolen benefits. "In one of the largest COVID fraud schemes ever prosecuted," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, "the defendant and her coconspirators filed more than 5,000 fraudulent COVID unemployment insurance claims using stolen identities."
Hicks and others created fake employers and fabricated employee lists using personally identifiable information (PII) from identity theft victims to file false claims on the GaDOL website. They acquired PII through various means, including paying an Atlanta-area healthcare network employee to unlawfully obtain patient data and purchasing PII online. Fraudulent funds were disbursed via prepaid debit cards sent to addresses chosen by the conspirators.
In February, Hicks pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Seven co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty or been sentenced.
"Tyshion Nautese Hicks and her co-conspirators used the stolen PII of unwitting victims," said Special Agent Mathew Broadhurst from DOL-OIG Southeast Regional Office. Various agencies such as IRS-CI, USPIS, USSS, HSI participated in investigating this case.
The Justice Department's COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was established by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on May 17, 2021, aiming to combat pandemic-related fraud effectively.
Anyone with information about attempted COVID-19 fraud can report it via the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline or their web complaint form.