Paris Lashay Haynes, a former employee of the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), has pled guilty to wire fraud. The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Ellison C. Travis. Haynes, aged 28 and from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, entered her plea before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles.
Haynes admitted that between April 2020 and March 2021, while employed as a customer service representative at the LWC, she engaged in fraudulent activities related to unemployment insurance claims. Her role involved assisting individuals with their claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, part of the CARES Act aimed at providing financial aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The LWC administered PUA benefits in Louisiana through a self-service system known as HiRE. As an employee, Haynes had access to this system and used her credentials to manipulate claimant accounts unlawfully. She changed usernames, passwords, email addresses, and bank routing information of inactive claimants to redirect funds into her own or controlled accounts.
From March 2021 through June 2022, Haynes also submitted false PUA applications in her name by claiming unemployment due to COVID-19 despite being aware that her job termination was due to misconduct.
In total, Haynes accessed approximately forty claimant accounts and fraudulently obtained over $200,000 in PUA benefits. The Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating this case with prosecution led by Assistant United States Attorney Kristen Lundin Craig.
