California inmate, 3 others convicted in $25 MILLION Covid relief fund fraud

Four people from California, including one inmate, pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft for their roles in a scheme that defrauded the California Employment Development Department (EDD) out of nearly $25 million in Covid-19 relief funds.

The quartet amassed the fortune by using the personal identifying information of countless people to submit fraudulent unemployment insurance claims during the pandemic. 

According to the Department of Justice, the ringleader of the scheme was Telvin Breaux, a 32-year-old inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. He ran the operation from his cell. His accomplices, Fantasia Brown, 35, Shanice White, 29, and Holly White, 29, were all based in the Los Angeles area.

Together, they obtained the personal identifying information of "other inmates, non-inmates, and minor children."

"Many of the non-inmates," the DOJ explained, "were patients or customers at hospitals, dentists' offices, and other businesses where one of the co-defendants worked or had a point of contact.  The minor children were the defendants' own children or part of their networks of family and friends."

Over 400 fraudulent claims were filed, with 290 approved, amounting to $5.4 million being paid out. The EDD managed to freeze some of that money before it got into the hands of the fraudsters, who spent the available funds on rent, luxury vehicles, trips to Las Vegas, jewelry, designer handbags, high-end furniture, and tuition.

Shanice White is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18, while Holly White will hear her fate on Jan. 16, 2024. Breaux and Brown's sentences will be handed down on March 18, 2024.

If convicted, they each face a maximum of 22 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the DOJ, another member of the fraud squad was sentenced to over five years in federal prison in 2022 for his role. Daryol Richmond, 32, had been an inmate at the Kern Valley State Prison at the time.

Three other defendants have not yet been convicted, and are scheduled to appear in court on September 18.