A woman serving a life sentence for murder admitted Wednesday that she played a leading role in a scam of inmates and others to use stolen identities to obtain state unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.
Natalie Le DeMola, 38, pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
She is one of 13 people charged in May with executing a scheme to obtain at least $2 million in unemployment benefits primarily related to the pandemic, in some cases using the stolen identities of California prison inmates.
From June 2020 to September 2020, DeMola admitted, he used the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of detainees and others to make fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance intended for people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. .
DeMola acknowledged that he also applied for benefits for herself despite knowing she was ineligible.
The California Employment Development Department approved DeMola’s fraudulent applications and issued bank debit cards that the co-conspirators used to withdraw cash from ATMs in Los Angeles and other parts of California, prosecutors say.
When coronavirus lockdowns upended the US economy in March 2020, Congress approved trillions of dollars in bailout money, including more than $888 billion in unemployment benefits, but with minimal protections against fraud.
At least $60 billion of that money has been lost to fraud, and only a small fraction has been recovered.
One of DeMola’s co-defendants has pleaded guilty to bank fraud. The other eleven have been offered plea deals, the assistant US attorney. David C. Lachman told US District Judge John F. Walter.
DeMola, originally from Corona, was a teenager when she, her boyfriend and an acquaintance conspired to kill her mother in April 2001, according to court records.
