Overview
- Federal prosecutors indicted Gerard C. Moorer, a longtime deputy district director to Rep. Danny Davis, on three wire-fraud counts tied to $31,887 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits.
- The indictment says he applied in May 2020 and kept certifying he was out of work through September 2021 with Illinois' employment agency while still serving on Davis’ staff.
- Each count carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, and an arraignment is set for May 14.
- Davis’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the charges.
- Prosecutors framed the case as part of a wider push to police fraud in COVID relief programs such as PUA, which paid people not eligible for regular unemployment and relied on weekly self-certifications processed by states.