New Hampshire Man Indicted for Fraud Scheme that Stole Over $700,000 in California Unemployment Insurance Benefits

A federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment today against Anthony Mark Silva, 40, of Manchester, New Hampshire, charging him with nine counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between July 2020 and June 2021, Silva executed a scheme to defraud the California Employment Development Department (EDD) by filing fraudulent unemployment insurance claims with EDD, seeking Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and other benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. During the scheme, Silva collected personally identifiable information of numerous individuals—including names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers—which were used to file fraudulent unemployment insurance claims. The filings represented, among other things, that the claimants had recently lost employment or were unable to find employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These unemployment insurance claims were fraudulent because, for example, the claimants were not unemployed, they were not eligible for California unemployment insurance benefits, or Silva did not have authority to file claims on their behalf.

EDD approved dozens of the fraudulent claims and authorized Bank of America to mail out debit cards containing unemployment insurance benefits. Silva then activated the debit cards and spent the benefits on himself. The scheme sought and caused EDD and the United States to incur actual losses exceeding $700,000.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and EDD’s Investigation Division. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nchekube Onyima and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shea J. Kenny are prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Silva faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the bank fraud counts. Silva also faces a two-year mandatory prison sentence if convicted of aggravated identity theft, which must run consecutive to any sentence received on the other counts. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.