Representatives from EDD and Bank of America addressed a State Assembly hearing to shed light on the scope of fraud within California s unemployment program.
Assembly Bill 74: From Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego). Provides claimants with the option to receive their unemployment payments (as well as disability and paid family leave) via direct deposit. Currently, California is only one of three states that do not provide direct deposit; instead, the state is contracted with Bank of America to send payments to a debit card. However, complaints have mounted that Bank of America has failed to protect its cardholders, leaving them vulnerable to fraud, and to having their accounts frozen by the bank if they detect suspicious activity leaving cardholders without access to their funds as they try to navigate the bank s appeals process.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
LAS VEGAS A Phoenix-area man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in Nevada to possessing numerous California unemployment benefits debit cards all issued under different names, federal officials said.
A federal judge in Las Vegas scheduled a May 11 sentencing after 32-year-old Delashaun Dean of Tolleson, Arizona, pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of counterfeit and unauthorized access devices, officials said.
A statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Nevada and the U.S. Department of Labor said Dean intended to fraudulently obtain nearly $223,000 in benefits through 15 cards issued by the California Employment Development Department.
The cards, a fake driver’s license and a notebook with multiple people’s personal identifying information used to apply for unemployment insurance benefits were found by Las Vegas police in Dean’s hotel room last Octobe
The California Employment Development Department. (Courthouse News photo / Nick Cahill)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) Inheriting a mounting bureaucratic disaster that has floated lifelines to inmates but left newly jobless Californians broke, lawmakers on Thursday called for a reboot of the state’s Employment Development Department.
Pressed to act after a series of criminal investigations and audits revealed inmates and fraudsters took the department for at least $10 billion during the pandemic, a group of Assembly members say sweeping changes are needed to make the troubled department functional once again.
“We want to fix it,” said Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield. “EDD needs to be reformed, it needs to more responsive to Californians especially during a time of need.”
The California Employment Development Department. (Courthouse News photo / Nick Cahill)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) A spectacular failure at the basics paying legitimate claims for unemployment benefits while weeding out fraud has left California legislators skeptical that the Employment Development Department will be able to handle larger headaches facing Californians as tax season looms.
“I have received countless calls from constituents who are scared to death because their unemployment was taken by somebody else and that they are going to receive a 1099-G,” Assemblymember Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, told top EDD officials Wednesday.
“You’re gonna be flooded with Californians who are going to be seeing what their taxes are gonna to look like. And yet they either didn’t file or had their unemployment taken by fraudsters.”
LAS VEGAS
A Phoenix-area man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in Nevada to possessing numerous California unemployment benefits debit cards all issued under different names, federal officials said.
A federal judge in Las Vegas scheduled a May 11 sentencing after 32-year-old Delashaun Dean of Tolleson, Arizona, pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of counterfeit and unauthorized access devices, officials said.
A statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Nevada and the U.S. Department of Labor said Dean intended to fraudulently obtain nearly $223,000 in benefits through 15 cards issued by the California Employment Development Department.
The cards, a fake driver’s license and a notebook with multiple people’s personal identifying information used to apply for unemployment insurance benefits were found by Las Vegas police in Dean’s hotel room last October, the statement said.