Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson has announced the sentencing of Jazmin J. Bougere, a 38-year-old resident of Raceland, Louisiana, for theft of government funds related to the CARES Act. On July 17, 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Barry W. Ashe sentenced Bougere to six months in prison followed by six months of home detention after she pleaded guilty to a one-count bill of information.
The CARES Act was enacted on March 29, 2020, to provide financial assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact. It included a temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), administered by the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC). This program provided benefits for individuals not eligible for other types of unemployment benefits.
Court documents revealed that in May 2020, Bougere received and facilitated improper payments totaling approximately $275,000 from various state unemployment programs during the pandemic. These included $144,003 from LWC and additional amounts from states like Arizona, California, Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, and Texas.
In addition to her sentence of incarceration and home detention, Bougere received three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $100 mandatory special assessment fee for each count.
The Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force on May 17, 2021. This task force aims to combat pandemic-related fraud by investigating and prosecuting domestic and international criminal actors involved in such activities.
Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson commended the Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General for their investigation into this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera led the prosecution.
For more information on reporting attempted fraud involving COVID-19 relief funds or details about the Department’s response to the pandemic can be found at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus or through their hotline at 866-720-5721.
