US authorities have charged Pennsylvania resident Myrna Ortiz with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and 31 counts of theft of government funds. Ortiz participated in a conspiracy to steal and conceal the origin of illicitly-obtained Social Security benefits and COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).
Ortiz entered into an online relationship with an individual she met on the online dating website ‘Match.com’. She helped this individual with a scheme that involved filing fraudulent claims for Social Security Administration (SSA) Retirement benefits, using the personal identifiable information of at least 23 eligible individuals. Ortiz’s role in the scheme was to launder the stolen money. She opened ten bank accounts to receive the fraudulently-obtained government funds. Thereafter, she withdrew the funds and used them to buy gift cards that she then provided to her co-conspirator.
Ortiz also helped steal government funds meant for COVID-19 PUA by fraudulently filing claims in the names of several victims. She used the same bank accounts as before to deposit this illicit money too, before laundering it back to her co-conspirator. Overall, Ortiz laundered over $600,000 of stolen government funds.
Source: US Department of Justice