New Rochelle Man Charged In Pandemic Fraud and Identity Theft Plot

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A New Rochelle man is facing federal charges for his role in an identity theft plot to embezzle federal pandemic relief funds.

Aly Kaba, 29, of New Rochelle, has been indicted on conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft charges for fraudulently obtaining pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits using stolen identities, according to federal investigators.

U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge, Northeast Region, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (USDOL-OIG); Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

The indictment alleges that from Sept. 2020 through Oct. 2020, Kaba fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits in the names of other people.

The conspiracy and mail fraud charges each carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory term of 2 years in prison, to be imposed consecutively to any other term of imprisonment.

Kaba appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Albany and was released with conditions.

The case is being investigated by USDOL-OIG, USPIS, and HSI, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New York Field Office and the New York State Department of Labor’s Office of Special Investigations.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.

More information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, can be found here.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.