Michigan man sentenced in pandemic fraud scheme, officials said

Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News on Mar 14, 2025

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DETROIT — A Southfield man convicted of defrauding state unemployment insurance agencies of $6.3 million during the COVID-19 pandemic has been sentenced, officials said.

Kenny Lee Howard, 32, was given 94 months in prison Thursday, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Julie Beck said in a statement.

Howard, his sister Keila Lanae Howard, and four co-defendants were charged in 2023 for their roles in a multi-million-dollar unemployment insurance fraud scheme.

"Kenny Howard III and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud multiple state workforce agencies by filing for unemployment insurance in the names of identity theft victims who were not entitled to such benefits," Megan Howell, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Great Lakes Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, said in a statement. "Today’s sentencing affirms the Office of Inspector General’s commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and bring to justice those who exploit U.S. Department of Labor programs."

Howard's attorney was not immediately available for comment on Friday.

Authorities alleged Howard and his co-conspirators filed more than 700 unemployment insurance claims across Michigan, California and three other states between April 2020 and August 2021.

Investigators said once the claims were processed, funds were loaded onto pre-paid debit cards and mailed to addresses controlled by the defendants.

After receiving the cards, the defendants used them to withdraw cash, according to prosecutors. Officials said about 60% of the scheme’s fraudulent claims were successful, stealing $6,336,575 from state unemployment insurance agencies. They said if all of the fraudulent claims were granted, those agencies would have lost more than $11 million.

Beck said Howard's sister, Keila Howard, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. She said a third co-defendant, David Davis, 27, of Detroit, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. And the case against the fourth co-defendant, Stevenvan Ware, is pending.

"The pandemic may be over, but the prosecutions of those who took advantage of government programs during the pandemic are not," Beck said in a statement. "This office continues — and will continue — to hold those responsible for these fraudulent schemes accountable for their actions, and today’s sentence is evidence of that important work."

Howard's sentencing is the latest example of a Michigan resident being accused of defrauding the government of COVID-19 relief funds.

Earlier this week, the owners of an historic and private Detroit social club agreed to pay more than $357,000 to settle a federal complaint over alleged COVID-19 loan fraud.

Last week, a Detroit man accused of being part of a scheme involving $14 million in federal COVID-19 relief loans pleaded guilty in federal court in Pennsylvania.

In November, an Ann Arbor woman pleaded guilty to stealing more than $41,000 in COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loans.

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