Social Security Employee Sentenced in Multimillion-Dollar Fraud and Identity Theft Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas

HOUSTON – A former Social Security employee has been ordered to federal prison for aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to steal government funds, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

David Lam, 46, Pearland, pleaded guilty June 5, 2025.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has now ordered Lam to serve 84 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard about the complex nature of Lam’s scheme and how it involved dozens of fraudulent applications. Lam also used his access to personal data, which was necessary for his actual job duties, to facilitate his embezzlement and theft. Lam was further ordered to pay $3,346,280 in restitution.

Lam was an operations supervisor and claims specialist for the Social Security Administration office in Houston.

As part of his plea, Lam admitted to stealing the personally identifying information of recently deceased men and then using that PII to facilitate fraudulent benefits applications.

Lam worked with various coconspirators – typically, women with children – to file fraudulent survivor benefits applications listing the deceased men as the children’s fathers or stepfathers. If true, this would have entitled the women to receive benefits while raising their children as widows. However, the women had no connection to the men listed on the applications, and the deceased men did not father the children. To facilitate his scheme, Lam would utilize the deceased men’s names, dates of birth and death and Social Security numbers.

He would also instruct the coconspirators to split the stolen funds with him. The women would transfer funds via applications like Zelle, CashApp or Chime.

He was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Gray prosecuted the case.