Two Maryland men have been indicted in an alleged scheme to steal more than $1 million in unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Daiwor Woah-Tee, 51, of Belcamp, and Dekwii Woah-Tee, 46, of Rosedale, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, respectively, relating to a scheme to obtain more than $1 million in unemployment insurance benefits, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland news release. The relationship between the two men is unclear.

The indictment was unsealed when the defendants were arrested Dec. 18. The men appeared before the U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Austin in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

According to the news release, from March 2020 to September 2021, Daiwor Woah-Tee and Dekwii Woah-Tee reportedly attempted to commit wire fraud by defrauding state workforce agencies, including the Maryland Department of Labor.

The defendants allegedly used fake IDs, including false names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, to submit applications for unemployment benefits. The benefits obtained through the scheme resulted in more than $1 million in false claims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several federal programs expanded eligibility and increased unemployment benefits, including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and the Lost Wages Assistance Program.

The defendants face up to 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud conspiracy. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison that runs consecutively to any other sentence.

The District of Maryland Strike Force is investigating the case. The U.S. Department of Justice established five strike forces nationwide to investigate and prosecute COVID-19 fraud.

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