A 47-year-old Milwaukee County man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after concealing a bank account that processed more than $1 million while he collected nearly $300,000 in government disability benefits he was not entitled to receive. Antonio Franklin was convicted of wire fraud for falsely reporting that he did not control assets worth more than $2,000, that he was disabled, and that he lacked income, all starting in January 2020.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller handed down the sentence on July 31, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which said the judge emphasized the need to deter benefit fraud. As BizTimes reports, Franklin received benefits from multiple programs simultaneously, including $54,000 in federal SSI payments, $11,000 in state SSI payments, and $230,000 from Wisconsin's IRIS program, all beginning in January 2020.
The fraud spanned from January 2020 through March 2025, during which Franklin concealed an active bank account that saw more than $1 million in total cash flow that year, per the Justice Department. Federal rules require SSI recipients to fully disclose their financial assets to maintain eligibility, and under Social Security Administration guidelines, an individual's countable resources — including bank account balances — cannot exceed $2,000, a statutory limit that has stood unchanged since 1989, according to the Social Security Administration.
How the Fraud Reached Multiple Programs
Franklin drew from Title XVI disability benefits administered by the U.S. Social Security Administration, Wisconsin Supplemental Security Income through the state Department of Health Services, and the IRIS program, which stands for Include, Respect, I Self-Direct. IRIS is a Medicaid long-term care waiver program created in 2008 that lets elderly residents and adults with disabilities manage their own home care budgets, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. In total, Franklin defrauded several government programs out of nearly $300,000, per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The investigation was carried out in coordination with the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General's Cooperative Disability Investigations program, a joint federal-state initiative created in 1997 to combat disability benefit fraud, the agency said. The SSA OIG also worked closely with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Attorney's Office on the case, per BizTimes.
Charles Briscoe, acting special agent-in-charge of the SSA OIG's Midwestern CDI division, said the sentencing “demonstrates the serious consequences of fraud against SSA benefit programs designed to help those in need.” The agency has said it pursues justice against people who seek to undermine Social Security programs while working to protect their integrity.
Restitution and Prison Time Ahead
Franklin will pay $296,243 in restitution and will be subject to three years of supervised release once his prison term ends, according to BizTimes. Federal wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison along with fines and supervised release, though Franklin's 18-month sentence falls well below that ceiling — a gap federal sentencing guidelines account for based on loss amounts and criminal history.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad D. Schimel, who leads federal prosecutions in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and previously served as Wisconsin's Attorney General, has publicly emphasized that stopping government benefit fraud remains a top priority for federal law enforcement, per the Justice Department. The case fits a broader pattern of enforcement in Milwaukee County; the U.S. Internal Revenue Service noted an April guilty plea this year involving more than $1.6 million in SNAP benefit fraud and tax evasion in the same region.
A Program Built on Trust, and Its History of Abuse
The IRIS program's self-directed structure — which lets participants act as their own employers in managing caregiving — has faced fraud before. In a 2012 case reported by Patch, an Oak Creek resident was sentenced to six years in prison for submitting false caregiver timesheets to the program. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services renewed the federal IRIS Medicaid waiver for the 2026–2030 period this year, updating administrative categories and oversight guidelines as the waiver undergoes its required five-year federal renewal.
