ATLANTA – Austin Martin Siampwizi has been arraigned on federal charges of concealment money laundering, money laundering conspiracy, and wire fraud.
“Money launderers used the COVID-19 pandemic to financially benefit while millions of Americans were suffering,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “We will continue to prosecute individuals who defrauded this program at the expense of vulnerable citizens in need of this critical relief.”
“An important part of the mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of fraud related to unemployment insurance programs,” said Mathew Broadhurst, Special Agent-in-Charge, Southeast Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate these types of allegations.”
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Austin Martin Siampwizi allegedly laundered money procured from fraudulent unemployment claims submitted to the Employment Security Department of Washington State (“ESD”). These claims were filed using personal identifiable information stolen from more than 50 individuals. Additionally, Siampwizi has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly submitting a fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) application to the SBA.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) created a temporary federal program that provided up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits for those unemployed because of the pandemic and included a provision to provide temporary benefits to individuals who had exhausted their entitlement to regular benefits or were otherwise not eligible. That temporary federal program was administered by state employment agencies. The CARES Act also allowed the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) to offer funding to business owners negatively affected by the pandemic.
Austin…
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