A Florida man who stole more than $4 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits and used the money to buy luxury items, including diamond-studded “grills,” has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison, the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A federal judge sentenced Zachary Kameron Ramyard, 23, from Orlando, to 71 months behind bars and ordered him to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution for his role in the fraud scheme, which ran from 2020 to 2022, according to authorities.
Ramyard pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in October 2024.
Fraud funded lavish spending
Prosecutors said Ramyard and his co-conspirators used stolen identities to file at least 68 fraudulent unemployment claims with California’s Employment Development Department (EDD).
The agency issued debit cards loaded with stolen benefits, which Ramyard used to withdraw hundreds of thousands of dollars from ATMs in multiple states, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
Rather than using the cash for necessities, he spent it on luxury items, including the diamond-studded teeth jewelry known as “grills,” authorities said.
Authorities crack down on COVID relief fraud
The fraud took advantage of pandemic-era unemployment programs expanded under the CARES Act.
In response to widespread abuse, the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was launched in 2021 to investigate and prosecute pandemic-related financial crimes.
South Florida has been a hot spot for fraud and in 2022, the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office was selected to lead one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams.
