California may have sent a billion dollars or more in unemployment benefits to people out of the state, including to other countries, and much of it may be based on fraudulent claims, several prosecutors warned Thursday.
District attorneys from nine counties including San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom urging him to use his executive powers to increase resources investigating widespread unemployment benefit fraud involving prison inmates and to immediately check jobless claims against personal data of those behind bars.
The prosecutors told the governor they have received “unverified information” that the state Employment Development Department has distributed at least $1 billion in unemployment benefits to out-of-state claimants.
“We are deeply concerned that the fraud will continue to grow exponentially,” the district attorneys wrote to the governor.
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