Date: 08-22-2024

Case Style:

United States of America v. Carl J. DiVeglia III

Case Number: 1:22-cr-00098

Judge: Glenn T. Suddaby

Court: The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (Onondaga County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Syracuse

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Syracuse, New York criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Pandemic Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme
Former State Employee Sentenced to 20 Months for Pandemic Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme

As part of his previously entered guilty plea to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, Carl J. DiVeglia III, age 36, of Albany, admitted that he and another former NYSDOL employee, Wendell Giles, abused their state computer access to create and approve false unemployment insurance applications in 2020 and 2021, including applications for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. DiVeglia admitted responsibility for over $1.6 million in losses to NYSDOL and to personally receiving approximately $225,000 in fraud proceeds.

United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also imposed a 2-year term of supervised release, to begin after DiVeglia is released from prison. Judge Suddaby also ordered DiVeglia to pay $1,662,819 in restitution to the State of New York and to forfeit a $225,000 money judgment to the United States.

Giles was previously sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment for his role in the scheme. Four related defendants—Todd Ward, a/k/a “Fats,” age 45, of Troy, New York; Christopher Ward, a/k/a “Reek,” age 46, of Troy; Rocco Resciniti a/k/a “Rock,” age 50, of Albany; and Jamaine Myers, age 46, of Troy—have also pled guilty to fraud charges for their involvement in DiVeglia’s scheme. Resciniti was sentenced to three years of probation on July 31, 2024, and the remaining defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in the fall.

The FBI and USDOL-OIG investigated these cases, with assistance from the NYSDOL Office of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua R. Rosenthal and Joseph S. Hartunian are prosecuting the cases.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Outcome:

Defendant was found guilty and sentenced to 20 months in prison and also imposed a 2-year term of supervised release, to begin after DiVeglia is released from prison. Judge Suddaby also ordered DiVeglia to pay $1,662,819 in restitution to the State of New York and to forfeit a $225,000 money judgment to the United States.

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Defendant's Experts:

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