Tyshion Nautese Hicks, a woman from Georgia, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her involvement in a scheme that defrauded the state Department of Labor of over $30 million in unemployment benefits. Along with seven co-conspirators, Hicks filed over 5,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims between March 2020 and November 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group created fake employers and fictitious employees using information from identity theft victims, then submitted fraudulent claims on the labor department’s website. They received benefits through prepaid debit cards sent to chosen addresses, many in Vienna and Cordele. Hicks pleaded guilty to mail fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. The scheme was one of the biggest cases of COVID fraud ever prosecuted, according to Nicole Argentieri of the U. S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division. In addition to serving prison time, Hicks must have three years of supervised release and pay restitution of an undetermined amount.