A Plymouth man was sentenced Monday to six months in home confinement after pleading guilty to Covid relief fund fraud, according to the US Attorney’s office in Boston.
Ferris Brooks, 41, who pleaded guilty in February, applied for benefits in his own name and the names of three others — including two homeless people and a person who had been living in Dubai for more than a decade, prosecutors alleged.
The total payout was more than $150,000, prosecutors said.
Brooks, who faced the possibility of significant prison time, was also placed on supervised release, the federal version of probation, for three years — including the six months he will serve in home confinement.
According to federal prosecutors, Brooks submitted multiple applications for government benefits from April to December 2020.
He submitted an application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan with the US Small Business Administration in the name of a phony business, prosecutors said.
He also submitted applications for pandemic unemployment benefits and filed tax returns for economic impact payments in the names of friends and family that contained false employment information, prosecutors said.
He directed payments to bank accounts that he controlled, authorities said, and split the proceeds with his friends and family.
A September US Government Accountability report estimated that between $100 billion and $135 billion in fraudulent unemployment payments were made during the pandemic.