Prince George's County woman gets 42 months in UI fraud scheme

A Prince George’s County woman was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison after prosecutors said she helped siphon more than $3.5 million from Maryland’s unemployment insurance system, a scheme that used inside access to change claims, passwords and payment methods.

Kiara Smith, 28, was also ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution and received a $275,000 criminal forfeiture order. Federal prosecutors said Smith and co-conspirators submitted false unemployment insurance claims between May 2021 and June 2022, then used a company-issued laptop to reach non-public Maryland Department of Labor data and databases and manipulate existing claims for bigger payouts.

The case hits at a sensitive point for county residents who paid into the system and for workers who rely on it when jobs disappear. According to court documents, the conspiracy used personal identifying information from victims and involved more than $3.5 million in unemployment insurance benefits, money meant for Marylanders facing job loss during the pandemic era.

Smith worked for a contractor that provided professional support services to the Maryland Department of Labor, where she and others were able to review claims and administer benefits. Prosecutors said that access gave the group the ability to alter email addresses, passwords and payment methods on claims already in the system, a reminder that the biggest threat to public benefits can come from people with legitimate access rather than outsiders breaking in from afar.

Smith was one of six people charged in a federal indictment returned Oct. 24, 2023 and unsealed Dec. 15, 2023. The defendants included Lawrence Nathanial Harris, Ahmed Hussain, Zakria Hussain, Terry Chen, Smith and Bryan Nushawn Ruffin. Four co-conspirators have already been sentenced, and a fifth was scheduled for sentencing May 20.

The investigation was led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland with the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office. Prosecutors said the case was part of the Maryland COVID-19 Strike Force effort, one of the Justice Department’s specialized pandemic-fraud strike forces, created as unemployment insurance expanded through federal programs during COVID-19.

Officials said the Maryland effort sat inside a broader national crackdown. On Aug. 23, 2023, the Justice Department announced a nationwide action that charged 371 defendants in alleged COVID-19 fraud totaling more than $836 million. For Prince George’s County, the Smith sentence stands as another sign that investigators are still tracing pandemic-era fraud back to the individuals who exploited public benefits systems from the inside.