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Saratoga County resident Michael Smith, age 62, of the town of Saratoga, was sentenced to five years of probation in federal court in Albany on Monday, July 17.
It came after he admitted to conspiring with a purported woman he met online and her purported attorney to launder over $200,000 in illegally obtained benefits between June 2020 and May 2022, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District.
Using phony unemployment insurance applications and business loan applications, Smith was able to convince several states - including Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, California, and Pennsylvania - to send him funds from COVID-19 relief programs.
The money came in the form of checks and debit cards.
In order to then launder the money, Smith bought and took photos of gift cards and then sent the photos to the purported woman and her attorney, prosecutors said. He also transferred fraud proceeds to them.
In addition to probation, Smith was ordered to pay $208,263 in restitution to the defrauded states.
The US Attorney’s Office said anyone with information on alleged COVID-19 fraud can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) hotline at 866-720-5721 or on its website.
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