A federal judge has sentenced Ardavan Alamoutinia, 36, of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, to 10 years in prison for filing more than 500 fraudulent pandemic unemployment applications in 27 states. Judge Juan R. Sánchez also ordered three years of supervised release and restitution of $3,177,376, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said on September 24. The applications were built on stolen identities, and the government puts its loss at no less than $2,886,876.
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Prosecutors say the identities belonged to at least 375 current or former employees of a company the release calls only “Company 1.” Those workers did not apply for anything. Their names and personal details were used to claim Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the emergency program that paid people who did not qualify for regular unemployment insurance.
For anyone whose employer, school or doctor has ever sent a data-breach letter, the case is a reminder of how far a set of stolen details can travel. In this one, the release says a co-conspirator stole the personal information and handed it to Aryanah Davison, 26, of Harrisburg. The same kinds of details also sit on data broker and people-search sites, and Incogni sends removal requests to those brokers for you and keeps re-sending them.
What the plea and sentence cover
Alamoutinia was indicted in May 2023 and pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of mail fraud, one count of theft of government money and one count of aggravated identity theft. The release does not give the year of the plea. The restitution order of $3,177,376 is larger than the government’s stated loss of at least $2,886,876, by $290,500. The 10-year term equals 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The $3,177,376 is the amount the court ordered him to repay on top of the prison term.
Davison pleaded guilty to her part in the scheme in January 2025. Her sentencing is pending, and the release gives no date. The prosecutor on the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Chandler Harris, and U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced the sentence.
The investigation drew in four inspectors general and the Postal Inspection Service: the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General, the Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the NASA Office of Inspector General and the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General. The Labor Department’s inspector general also lists the case among its pandemic unemployment results. That same portal collects the office’s earlier audit work, including a 2022 report that found potentially fraudulent unemployment insurance payments in high-risk areas had increased to $45.6 billion, and an audit concluding that Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for non-traditional claimants was weakened by billions of dollars in overpayments, including fraud.
Where the stolen money went
According to the release, at least $2,500,000 in fraud proceeds was converted and spent, including on a luxury sports vehicle and several hundred thousand dollars in cryptocurrency. The release does not say how the benefit payments were received, and it does not name the company whose employees were used.
Why the pandemic program was so easy to exploit
The Labor Department’s inspector general has said the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program relied on self-certification, meaning applicants largely attested to their own eligibility. In a summary of its unemployment insurance oversight work, the office estimates approximately $46.9 billion in potentially fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits and reports that in the first six months after the CARES Act passed, four states paid “$1 out of every $5” in PUA benefits to likely fraudsters.
That context explains why a single person could file more than 500 applications across 27 states. It does not make any one worker’s exposure less real: a claim filed in a name stays on that person’s record until a state agency is told it is fraudulent.
Checking for a jobless claim filed in a worker’s name
The Labor Department tells anyone who receives a 1099-G tax form, an unemployment notice or other word of a claim they did not file to report it to the state where the fraud occurred. Its identity theft page has a state directory, notes that some states require a police report or sworn affidavit, and warns against sending personal information to unverified sites. A state that confirms the fraud issues a corrected form and updates the IRS.
On taxes, the department says to report only the income actually received and not to report the incorrect 1099-G income. It also points to credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com and to IdentityTheft.gov for anyone who finds accounts or inquiries they do not recognize. For fraud that occurred after March 2020, it adds a second report to the National Center for Disaster Fraud, which forwards complaints to the Labor Department’s inspector general.
Anyone unsure which state site is the official one can start at CareerOneStop, which the department names as the place to begin.
The detail that kept 375 workers exposed
In this case, the personal details of at least 375 employees were stolen and passed along, then used in more than 500 applications across 27 states before any of the workers knew. Incogni sends removal requests on your behalf to data brokers and people-search sites and keeps re-sending them, and less personal data on broker lists can mean fewer scam calls, texts and emails. It works on the broker side of the problem, where personal details are sold and searched, and shows the status of each request in your account.
Have Incogni send removal requests to the data brokers holding your details →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
