An Atlanta podcaster just got hit with a seven-year prison sentence after getting caught pocketing millions through identity theft.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Jonathan Dupiton, the voice behind the Rich and Unemployed podcast, was sentenced to seven years after he pleaded guilty on January 13 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, along with aggravated identity theft. After his time in prison, he’ll be on supervised release for three years and will owe restitution, though the exact amount hasn’t been disclosed.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dupiton cooked up a scheme to swipe identities and score cash through unemployment insurance benefits. From July 2020 until early 2021, he ran a multi-million-dollar hustle that targeted California’s Unemployment Insurance benefits program, which was designed to help workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
He used stolen identities to file claims in California while masking his real location with a VPN. Once his claims got the green light, he and his crew had the benefits’ debit cards sent to Georgia, and he would hit up ATMs, mainly in Atlanta, to grab the cash.
Prosecutors said he pulled in a staggering $3.8 million, from which he withdrew about $2 million. “During the pandemic, while citizens were struggling with job loss and trying to make ends meet, Dupiton stole unemployment benefits by submitting false applications using hundreds of stolen identities,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg stated. “His sentence underscores that anyone who seeks to exploit taxpayer-funded programs will be aggressively prosecuted and face substantial prison time.”
While running his hustle, Dupiton was also wrapping up a federal sentence in a halfway house for a previous fraud conviction related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. At 36 years old, he seemed to flaunt his illicit activities, even sharing on his podcast that his motto is “F.R.A.U.D. is dope,” with that acronym standing for “Finally Rich After Unstoppable Determination.”