In California, prisoners turned a scam and received $ 40 million in unemployment benefits

In California, prisoners managed to get at least $ 400 million in unemployment benefits. How did they manage it, writes CBS8.

Photo: Shutterstock

State lawmakers are calling for public hearings in the mass fraud case.

Independent contractor Tyler Estabrook is one of millions of unemployed workers who depend on assistance.

“This help is really important to me right now,” Estabrook said.

Estabrook was horrified to learn that unemployment benefits were being robbed on a large scale.

In Sacramento County alone, the sheriff estimates that 650 inmates have filed similar applications.

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“Every inmate who files a fraudulent claim has an accomplice outside of prison,” Sheriff Scott Jones said. Most likely, the accomplices were friends or relatives.

Applications were filed even on behalf of 133 prisoners sentenced to death, writes Los Angeles Times.

In some cases, inmates may not have known that their identities were being used to apply for benefits.

State Senator Jim Nielsen noted that hundreds of thousands of unemployed Californians are still awaiting payments from EDD for legal claims.

“We learned that this huge amount of money was sent to criminals,” Nielsen said.

A task force has been formed to examine the magnitude of the problem.

“Let's make sure we hold accountable the people who took this money from the people of California,” said Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney.

Legislators said the State Employment Development Department (EDD) should be at the center of public hearings.

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"The whole culture of this department, its information technology practices, its infrastructure, its staffing, its hiring - all of that needs to be examined," said state Assemblyman David Chiu.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department, as well as the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, said they are currently under investigation and cannot provide further details.

“EDD works with inmate groups to identify suspicious allegations. In addition, EDD is collaborating with government cybersecurity experts,” the department said.

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