California woman sentenced for $1M unemployment fraud during COVID

Kaymeisha Keyes, a 33-year-old woman from San Joaquin County, was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a fraudulent scheme that exploited the unemployment benefits system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 2020 and August 2021, she filed numerous false claims with California's Employment Development Department, using stolen personal information from various individuals. This included names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers, which she obtained to create fraudulent claims of lost employment. Keyes utilized the federal CARES Act to unlawfully acquire over $1 million in unemployment benefits. To facilitate her fraud, she employed a third-party security firm, ID.me, to submit fake driver's licenses featuring her and her associates' photos. The unemployment funds were directed to addresses she controlled, including her residence in Tracy, California. Once the funds were loaded onto EDD debit cards, Keyes activated them and misappropriated the money for personal use. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California highlighted the severity of her actions, which were part of a broader initiative to combat pandemic relief fraud. In addition to her prison sentence, Keyes was ordered to pay restitution amounting to $1,116,683. This case was prosecuted under the California COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force, which aims to address large-scale fraud related to pandemic relief efforts.