Two Defendants Indicted For Identity Theft And Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Richard L. Walker, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Regional Office, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director, State of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, and J.D. Patterson, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), announce the unsealing of a fourteen count indictment charging Stanley Fertil, 20, and Steven Fertil, 19, both of Miami, with access device fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(2) and (a)(3), conspiracy to commit access device fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(b)(2) and aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1028A(a)(1). The defendants’ initial appearance was held today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick White in Miami.

According to court records, Stanley and Steven Fertil possessed the personal identifying information (PII) of over a thousand unwitting individuals. The PII included such individuals’ names, dates of birth and social security numbers. The brothers are alleged to have conspired to receive State of Florida Unemployment Insurance benefits by fraudulently filing unemployment claims in the victims’ names using the victims’ PII. The individuals victimized included public and private sector employees.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, the State of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity and the MDPD Public Corruption Unit. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan E. Kobrinski.

An indictment is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.