New Orleans Woman Sentenced for Theft of More Than $88,000 in Government Funds

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS, LA – ALINE JAMES, a/k/a “Aline Foster” (“JAMES”), age 51, of New

Orleans, La., was sentenced for Theft of Government Funds, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641, announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

According to the indictment, JAMES’s mother J.J. was a recipient of Disability Insurance Benefit (“DIB”) Program funds.  J.J. passed away in 2012.  Unaware of J.J.’s death, the Social Security Administration continued to deposit approximately $87,098 in DIB funds into J.J.’s bank account. After her mother’s death, JAMES spent these funds and forged J.J.’s signature on checks to herself. In addition, JAMES spent $1,200 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES ACT”) funds that were sent to her mother.

U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced JAMES to four (4) years’ probation and payment of a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee. Judge Milazzo also ordered that JAMES pay $88,298.00 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.  The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.  For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit http://www.justice.gov/cornoavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 cn repot it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General.  The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Carboni of the Financial Crimes Unit.