Major Case Unit John Dormin Michelle Martone Executive Director Associate Investigator Office of Special investigations Office of Special Investigations (518) (518) Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor Colleen C. Gardner, Commissioner

Personal Background:  24 years with NYS Labor  Investigation Experience: Wage and Hour Crimes Internal Misconduct Unemployment/Misclassified Workers  Managed New Hire Investigations  Established Major Case Unit

 Statewide investigation of complex fraud schemes  Data mining tool development  Analysis of large groups of data  Work directly with law enforcement and prosecutors

2011 Statistics (Staff of 3):  $3.8 million overpayments/millions saved  15 arrests  18 convictions  4 search warrants

 Internet Protocol (IP): Storage effective Dec claims filed in one hour 5+ weekly certifications in one hour Detection of linked claims Foreign IP blocks

 “HOT” Phone Numbers VCC/Tel-service calls  Direct Deposit (DD) Accounts 3+ claims linked to same DD Account Query DD account to find links

 Claimant Dashboard  Employer Dashboard  Wages Reported by ER  Historical Wage Data  Mass Fraud Detection

Claimant Dashboard  Ability to query single data fields  Provides comprehensive data analysis  Efficiency vs. “Claimant Locator”  Hotline Tip Assistance

Employer Dashboard  Corporate Officer Detection  Address Analysis

Employer Dashboard

Wages Reported by ER# Sort Options: Name or SSN

Mass Fraud (detects those who return to work for base period ER

Ledger Payments and Wages Associated with Same Employer

Search by Phone Number

IP Queries

Query run by Social Security Number

Query run by IP Address

Parking & Security Services Inc  Joint case with USDOL-OIG/Manhattan DA  Large scale ID theft/UI fraud ring  Utilized television and movie production sets to “work” SS#s and then file UI claims  Ringleader’s side business employed “workers” off the books while on UI  Resulted in 10 convictions

Haverstraw/Dominican Republic Scam  Search warrant resulted in 30 debit cards seized  Over 100 claimants living out of country and receiving wired UI funds  Conviction of 3 defendants  Resulted in Operation 809/Foreign IP discovery

DD-214 FRAUD CASES  Joint cases with USDOL/DOD-OIG  NC/SC ex-cons filed 35 false UI claims $145,000 in 5 states ( NY,NJ,NC,VT,TX)  Queens ex-Marine filed 7 false claims $75,000 theft  IP Query detection success

Fictitious Employer/False UI Claim Scam  Joint case with USDOL-OIG  Creation of 3 fictitious businesses  Filing of 38 false UI claims totaling $278,000  Prosecuted by US Attorney- Southern District  2 convicted and will serve months

BROOKLYN ID THEFT CASES  H & R Block employee stole ID’s and used to file 8 fraudulent UI claims Early detection and loss was only $7,500 Successful IP/phone number/address dumps  Brooklyn resident filed 9 false UI claims utilizing close family member’s IDs $78,000 in stolen UI pending prosecution

Queens area phishing/UI fraud case  “Phisher’s” phone number referred from Maine DOL  Phone number also found in NYSDOL query linked to active UI claim  UI/ER fraud detected and pending referral to USDOL Albert Weathers  Niagara Falls state employee certifying for prisoner  IP address detection contributed to success

Sweep cases  Ability to query specific employer wages vs. claims  Over 2.5 million dollars in claimant fraud detected from 3 employers Federal employee wages  Over $400,000 in USPS cases (pending)  NDNH files contain data used to query

New York State Major Case Unit Contact Info: Michelle Martone M C U Supervisor/Associate Investigator Office of Special Investigations (518) QUESTIONS ???