Yesterday, the court sentenced Romanian national Constantin Bobi Sandu, 34, to 40 months in prison and shook him down for $214,950 after pilfering over $5 million in pandemic unemployment benefits intended for Californians hit hard by the global crisis.
According to a previous Hoodline news, he and his 200-strong band of con artists cooked up fake documents, dummy accounts, and fictional businesses. Their goal is to obtain the Economic Development Department's coffers for the unemployment benefits it stewards. Sandu had the audacity to ship $16,000 back to Romania, ostensibly to spruce up a house per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
“This devious scheme diverted millions of dollars from those who truly needed it during the pandemic,” ripped U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath, decrying the group's action. McGrath's statement was echoed by the FBI’s San Diego Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy, who promised undying commitment to routing out and serving up justice on a platter to pandemic profiteers like Sandu and his cronies.
In response to this larceny, Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of the IRS Criminal Investigation's Los Angeles Office vowed that their squad is wide awake and on the hunt. “IRS:CI is committed to partnerships with law enforcement organizations around the world, and we will follow the money to find the guilty and bring them to justice,” he ensured per the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of California.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Adeline Schulberg prosecuted the case.
