ATLANTA – Austin Martin Siampwizi has been indicted on federal charges of disguised money laundering, money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud.
“Money launderers used the COVID-19 pandemic to gain financial gain while millions of Americans suffered,” said US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “We will continue to prosecute individuals who have defrauded this program at the expense of vulnerable citizens who need this critical relief.”
“An important part of the Office of the Inspector General’s job is to investigate allegations of fraud related to unemployment insurance programs,” said Mathew Broadhurst, special agent in charge of the US Department of Labor’s Southeast region, Office of the Inspector General. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously investigate these types of allegations.”
According to US Attorney Buchanan, the indictment and other information presented in court: Austin Martin Siampwizi allegedly laundered money obtained from fraudulent unemployment claims filed with the Washington State Employment Security Department (“ESD”). These claims were made using personal information stolen from more than 50 people. In addition, Siampwizi was charged with wire fraud for allegedly filing a fraudulent application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) with 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 to those unemployed due to the pandemic and included a provision to provide temporary benefits to those who had exhausted their entitlement to standard benefits or were otherwise ineligible. This temporary federal program was administered by state employment agencies. The CARES Act also allowed the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) to offer financing options to business owners negatively impacted by the pandemic.
Austin Martin Siampwizi, 46, of Atlanta, Georgia, was arraigned before US Judge J. Christopher C. Bly. Siampwizi was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 25, 2023.
The public is reminded that the indictment contains only counts of charges. The accused is presumed innocent of the charges and it is the government’s responsibility to prove the accused’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Labor, the US Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant US Attorney Sarah E. Klapman is leading the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to pool the Department of Justice’s resources in collaboration with agencies across government to increase efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The task force increases efforts to identify and prosecute the most criminal domestic and international criminals and assists agencies charged with administering fraud prevention assistance programs, including through the enhancement and integration of existing coordination mechanisms, identification of resources and fraud detection techniques Stakeholders and their plans, and the sharing and use of information and lessons learned from previous enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus
Anyone with information about suspected fraud related to COVID-19 may report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) hotline at 866-720-5721 or through the NCDF web complaint form at https:// /www .justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
For more information, please contact the US Attorney’s Office of Public Affairs at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The web address of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
