A Brooklyn man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a COVID-19 fraud scam, where unemployment benefits obtained from stolen identities fueled gang-related activities in East New York.
Darnell "EJ" Jones pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in wire fraud and committing aggravated identity theft, according to officials from the United States Attorney Eastern District office.
From March 2020 through August 2021, Jones engaged in a fraud scheme using stolen personal identifying information to obtain more than $800,000 from federally-funded unemployment insurance programs established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. In addition, Jones admitted to fraudulently obtaining personal identifying information, including bank account information to commit wire fraud with an intended victim loss of more than $3.5 million.
According to court filings, witness testimony and the record from the defendant’s detention hearing, Jones is a member of the Ninedee Gang, a criminal enterprise operating out of the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York, the federal prosecutors said. Ninedee Gang members were affiliated with the “5” and “6” Pink Houses apartment buildings and engaged in gang-related violence within and outside of the New York City Housing Authority complex.
Jones and other Ninedee Gang members engaged in various financial fraud schemes, including check fraud, postal money order fraud and unemployment benefits fraud, the officials said. Beginning in approximately November 2020, Jones sent a co-conspirator text messages containing the names of 10 New York residents, the purpose of which was to obtain personally identifiable information (PII) for those individuals without their consent. The co-conspirator sent Jones the requested individuals’ dates of birth, Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers.
In exchange, Jones paid the co-conspirator with cryptocurrency. Subsequently, Jones submitted fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits to the New York State Department of Labor using the stolen PII.
As introduced at the trial of Ninedee Gang leader Maliek Miller, text messages in 2020 showed that Jones coordinated with fellow Ninedee Gang member Kevin Wint about pooling their money to purchase “glicks” or “plates,” which are references to firearms.
“Today, Jones admitted to his extensive fraud scheme to swindle millions of dollars of unemployment benefits by using the stolen identities of innocent victims,” stated United States Attorney John J. Durham. "“Even worse, the federal funds were intended to provide relief to those most in need during the COVID-19 pandemic and instead were diverted by the defendant to finance violent crimes of the Ninedee gang in Brooklyn. My office and our law enforcement partners recognize that a key means of dismantling violent gangs is, as here, to cut off their sources of income.”
When sentenced, Jones faces up to 32 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.
You must be signed in to comment. Please sign in or register.