Man charged with false unemployment claims in 3 states

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A California man has been charged with setting up fake businesses in three states, then using names taken from temporary visas issued to student visitors on a cultural exchange to obtain more than $355,000 in unemployment benefits for nonexistent workers, federal prosecutors in Iowa said in court documents.

Nikolai Monastyrski is charged in federal court in Iowa with wire and mail fraud related to the scheme that prosecutors say he perpetrated there as well as in Illinois and Pennsylvania.

A complaint filed Nov. 10 by Dana Johnson, a Chicago-based U.S. Department of Labor special agent, says Monastyrski was able to get $114,215 from Iowa Workforce Development in 2014 and 2015 and $230,000 in benefits from Illinois Department of Employment Security. Illinois payouts go as far back as 2012 and some are as recent as earlier this year.

Additional claims were made involving two nonexistent businesses in Pennsylvania with payments of more than $11,300 paid out.

The investigation revealed Monastyrski filed the benefits requests from computers in his apartment in Folsom, Calif., and was observed on bank video cameras withdrawing cash using debit cards on which the unemployment insurance benefits were paid, Johnson said in court documents.

The investigation began in 2013 when the Illinois unemployment officials notified law enforcement that they discovered a scheme involving fictitious employers.