Ex-State Worker Gets 41 Months for Taking Bribes in Scheme to Steal $1.5 Million in Unemployment Funds During Covid

Ex-state employee Danielle Moore, 41, of Detroit, was sentenced Monday in federal court to three years and five months in prison for accepting bribes in a scheme to defraud the Michigan unemployment system of $1.5 million during the Covid pandemic.

Moore was assigned to work as a claims examiner for the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. During that time, she accepted bribes to process fraudulent unemployment claims totaling more than $1.5 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In addition to her prison sentence, she was ordered to pay $1,507,057.08 in restitution.

“Ms. Moore, as a former state employee, betrayed the public’s trust by taking advantage of her position and conspiring to steal funds meant to support unemployed workers during a national crisis,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, head of the Detroit FBI, in a statement. “Her actions were not only criminal but also a direct insult to the countless families and businesses struggling to survive the economic fallout of the pandemic."