The last of 15 defendants, James Mayfield, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for his involvement in numerous unemployment fraud schemes carried out during the coronavirus pandemic. These schems were orchestrated by Sharodney Harrison, and involved the filing of fake unemployment insurance claims using other people’s information without their consent. From August to September 2020, five defendants travelled to California to file fraudulent claims using local mailing and AirBnB addresses. A massive 600 fraudulent claims were filed across 19 states, leading to a loss of $2,020,851 to insurance agencies. Authorities had initially begun investigating these defendants after over 100 unemployment insurance claims were traced back to two IP addresses in Detroit. All defendants connected to this scheme have now been charged and sentenced. The group, including Harrison and Mayfield, defrauded state workforce agencies of over $2 million in benefits intended for American workers struggling due to the global pandemic.