There is one thing you can say about David Constantin. He didn’t leave anyone out. The more the merrier for him. Especially when it came to stealing from the U.S. taxpayer. Constantin was said to be the mastermind behind a scheme leading (using?) two hundred and thirteen people to fraudulently obtain more than $5 million in unearned California unemployment benefits during the COVID-19. Benefits which did not even stay in the United States.
Under Constantin’s direction, these two hundred and thirteen defendants submitted fraudulent applications to the California Economic Development Department, falsely claiming to be United States citizens who had been employed full time prior to the pandemic. To substantiate these claims, the defendants submitted false documents, including fake Forms W-2 purporting to be from their prior employers, phony health insurance cards, and fake utility bills to support their claimed residence in California. Shows good leadership by Constantin, although the very design of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program was susceptible for fraud.
After the money was paid out by the state, Constantin transferred the funds to accounts held in the defendants’ home country of Romania. And if they weren’t laundering the money to families overseas in Romania, they were shipping luxury items such as a 2020 BMW that was purchased more than $100,000.
On August 29, 2024, David Constantin was sentenced in federal court today to five years in prison and was ordered to pay $ $5,178,276 in restitution to the state. His co-mastermind of the scheme, Constantin Bobi Sandu, charged separately, was sentenced in 2023 to 40 months in prison. Thirteen other defendants were charged at the same indictment as Constantin with wire fraud and money laundering related to the unemployment fraud scheme and await trial. But that leaves about one hundred and ninety-eight co-conspirators unaccounted for!
Shout out to the California Employment Development Department Investigative Division catching the mastermind.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Ringleader of $5M State Unemployment Benefit Fraud Scheme Sentenced” published by the Times of San Diego on August 29, 2024.
A man who orchestrated a scheme that federal prosecutors say took more than $5 million in unearned California unemployment benefits was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison. David Constantin, 28, was charged along with 13 others with wire fraud and money laundering for arranging for hundreds of people to fraudulently apply for California Employment Development Department benefits.
Prosecutors said Constantin and “co-mastermind of the scheme” Constantin Bobi Sandu worked with others to take nearly $5.2 million in state unemployment benefits over the course of two years with the help of 213 co-conspirators.
