A Romanian national and "suspected organized crime figure" has been arrested in California and charged with directing a scheme to steal $5 million in pandemic-relief funds, the U.S. Department of Justice announced March 2.
Constantin Sandu, 33, also known as Bobi Sandu and Ionut Mihai, was arrested March 1 and charged as the alleged mastermind of a conspiracy involving more than 200 unnamed Romanians "to steal more than $5 million in California unemployment insurance benefits intended to help workers impacted by the pandemic," the DOJ news release states.
"According to the complaint, this defendant presided over a vast network of international swindlers to exploit a program meant to help struggling California workers survive the pandemic," U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in the news release.
U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman
| justice.gov/
The complaint alleges that Sandu conspired with 214 unnamed Romanian co-conspirators in California and Romania to steal California unemployment insurance benefits by falsifying documents, creating fake businesses and accounts, and filing phony claims with California’s Economic Development Department (EDD), which administers unemployment benefits, the release reports. The alleged scheme began in late 2020 and continued until the middle of 2022, according to the report.
During that time, Sandu and "hundreds of unnamed co-conspirators" developed a way to maximize the amount of benefits they fraudulently received by creating fake identifications, utility bills, earnings statements, W2s, health insurance cards and companies, according to the news release. Backdated or otherwise modified applications were also submitted "to generate even bigger pay days," the release states.
Co-conspirators in California gave Sandu their Personal Identifying Information (PIL) so he could file fraudulent unemployment and pandemic-relief claims with EDD, according to the release.
"It is especially egregious when criminal organizations think they can profit off of the United States and steal funds that are intended to aid citizens during times of need," IRS Los Angeles Field Office Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher said in the release.
Hatcher said IRS Criminal Investigation agents will continue to partner with law enforcement to go after people or entities that steal from critical relief programs
"IRS-CI is committed to aggressively investigating these crimes and bringing those criminal organizations to justice," Hatcher said in the release.
Sandu was arrested March 1 at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station in San Diego and made his first appearance in federal court the next day, according to the DOJ.
"The pandemic may be waning, but we are still aggressively investigating allegations of COVID relief fraud," Grossman said in the release. "The scheme alleged in this case diverted millions of dollars from those who truly needed it."
