Indiana woman sentenced to over 5 years in prison in COVID-19 fraud scheme

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced an Indiana woman to five-and-a-half years in prison in connection with a COVID-19 unemployment fraud scheme that cost state and federal government agencies almost $5.5 million.

Federal prosecutors in Indianapolis announced that U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced 28-year-old Oluwatobi Seton, of Bloomington, on Wednesday. The judge also ordered her pay $4.3 million in restitution.

According to prosecutors, Seton and partners in Nigeria obtained people’s identities and used them to open GoBank accounts and debit cards. They then would apply for unemployment benefits in different states using the stolen identities and had the money deposited into the fraudulent accounts. She kept a portion of the money for herself and sent the rest to her partners, prosecutors said.

Seton had more than 1,400 GoBank cards and 10 driver’s licenses with different names when she was arrested, prosecutors said.

The Associated Press left an email with Seton’s attorney, listed in online court records as Dominic Martin, on Friday afternoon.