New York siblings charged with conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft

Date: Nov. 21, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Mayovanet Fermin and Francheska Fermin of Yonkers, New York, were indicted on August 19, 2025, by a federal grand jury on 68 counts of fraud, including conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft. The case was unsealed following defendants’ arraignment on October 3, 2025.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, the indictment alleges that from January of 2020 through July of 2021, the Fermins obtained and shared lists of victims’ personal identifying information (PII) to create and submit fraudulent federal income tax returns, economic impact payment applications, and pandemic unemployment assistance benefits. The indictment alleges over $400,000 in fraudulently obtained payments as a result of the scheme.

The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG), the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG), and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Lloyd is prosecuting the case.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.