ROMANIAN ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF THEFT OF OVER $5M

Suspect accused of stealing pandemic jobless benefits

A Romanian citizen was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy last week, accused of crafting and running a scheme that stole more than $5 million in unemployment insurance benefits during the pandemic, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities say Constantin Sandu, 33, worked with 214 unnamed Romanian co-conspirators across California and in Romania in order to fabricate documents, create fake accounts and businesses and file bogus claims with California’s Economic Development Department, according to a news release Thursday from the San Diego U.S. atttorney’s office.

The government looks to reclaim any assets associated with the alleged crime, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Schulberg in an interview Friday.

San Diego FBI investigators took Sandu into custody Wednesday at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, prosecutors said.

Accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Sandu faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, prosecutors said. Sandu’s arraignment Thursday was postponed for a day to supply him with a Romanian language interpreter. The court docket does not indicate whether he was arraigned Friday.

The complaint alleges that Sandu figured out a way to defraud the COVID relief system, and he and a conspirator “sent public announcements via social media to a large network of coconspirators, offering services or meetings to conduct the fraud.”

The process used fraudulent identifications, falsified utility bills, falsified earnings statements, falsified W2s, fraudulent health insurance cards and nonexistent companies.

The forms were sent to the Employment Development Department, which then sent money, prosecutors said. The purpose of these EDD funds during the pandemic — largely funded from the federal government’s coronavirus relief rescue packages — was to assist unemployed workers throughout the state who lost work during the pandemic.

Sandu’s co-conspirators would then share information with him via Facebook, other online messaging services or by meeting in person to assist him in filing claims, prosecutors said.

None of the companies listed in the various tax documents filed by Sandu were real, prosecutors said. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield, none of the member identification numbers were real either.

Federal investigators said the scheme ran for the next nearly two years.

In total, Sandu and his co-conspirators stole no less than $5,207,687, prosecutors said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy thanked “our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners for addressing this problem in a unified effort.”

“These benefits were offered with the intention of helping struggling families stay afloat and were a critical lifeline for many,” she said in a statement. “Sandu’s alleged greed diverted those funds for his own personal gain.”

caleb.lunetta@sduniontribune.com