Troy man brought to court on charges related to alleged fraud – Troy Record

ALBANY, NY — Jaliyl McMillan, 33, of Troy, was arraigned this week on an indictment charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The announcement was made in a press release from U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Matthew Scarpino, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge, Buffalo Field Office; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General Northeast Region (USDOL-OIG); United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Postal Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division, Ketty Larco-Ward; and New York State Inspector General (NYSIG) Lucy Lang.

McMillan was arraigned in Albany, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, and was taken into custody pending a detention hearing, officials said.

The indictment alleges that between July 2020 and August 2021, McMillan perpetrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits from the New York State Department of Labor using stolen identities, according to the press release. This scheme resulted in the electronic transfer of funds between states as well as the mailing of debit cards to an address specified by McMillan. To carry out the scheme, McMillan possessed the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of the individuals.

The mail and wire fraud charges filed against McMillan carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; a fine of up to $250,000; and a supervised release sentence of up to three years, officials said. If convicted of the aggravated identity theft charges, McMillan would face an additional two years of incarceration which must, by law, run consecutively to any sentence imposed on the fraud charges.

The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

HSI, USDOL-OIG, USPIS and NYSIG are investigating the matter, the release said. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan S. Reiner is prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to mobilize the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with government agencies to strengthen anti-fraud efforts and pandemic-related fraud prevention, the statement said.

The Task Force strengthens efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and helps agencies administering relief programs prevent fraud, among other methods, by increasing and integrating mechanisms existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes and sharing and leveraging information and insights gained from previous enforcement efforts. For more information about the department's response to the pandemic, visit justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) hotline at 866-720-5721 or via NCDF's online complaint form at: justice.gov/disaster. -fraud/ncdf-disaster complaint form.