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'Rich and Unemployed' Host Gets 7 Years for $3.8 Million Pandemic Unemployment Fraud

The case underscores a federal crackdown on pandemic benefits fraud.

Overview

  • Jonathan Dupiton pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, then received seven years in federal prison.
  • Prosecutors said he ran a scheme from July 2020 to early 2021 that targeted California’s unemployment insurance program, securing $3.8 million and withdrawing about $2 million.
  • He used hundreds of stolen identities, filed claims through a virtual private network to hide his location, and had debit cards mailed to North Georgia for ATM cash-outs in metro Atlanta.
  • Dupiton was finishing a prior SNAP fraud sentence in a halfway house during the crimes, and he also faces three years of supervised release and restitution to be set.
  • The Justice Department, FBI, Labor Department’s inspector general, and IRS investigators condemned the theft from jobless workers and pledged continued enforcement.