Union Co. Man Stole $450K In Unemployment, Gets 6 Years In Prison

UNION COUNTY, NJ — A man from Union County was sentenced to more than 6 years in prison for illegally obtaining over $450K in unemployment insurance benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Thursday.

Maurice Mills, 30, of Union previously pleaded guilty by videoconference to a charge of wire fraud. Judge Brian Martinotti imposed the 80 month sentence by videoconference Thursday.

According to the documents and statements made in court, between August and September of 2020, Mills submitted fraudulent unemployment insurance benefit applications to the State of New York using the names of other individuals.

As a result, the State of New York approved the application and provided Mills with more than $450,000 in unemployment insurance benefits.

The unemployment insurance benefits that Mills accessed were part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that was signed into law March of 2020. This created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides unemployment benefits to individuals who were not eligible for other types of unemployment.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Martinotti sentenced Mills to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $486,760 in restitution.