Former Labor Department Employee Sentenced for $45,868 in Pandemic Benefits Fraud

A former U.S. Department of Labor employee was sentenced Aug. 11 to one year of probation for fraudulently collecting $45,868 in pandemic unemployment assistance while working full time for the federal government.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy also ordered Mo Yuong Kang, 51, formerly of Woburn and Dracut, Massachusetts, to pay $45,868 in restitution and forfeit the same amount.

Kang pleaded guilty in May to four counts of wire fraud. A federal grand jury indicted him in August 2025.

According to federal prosecutors, Kang worked as an industrial hygienist for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from June 2016 until July 2023. He earned more than $85,000 annually as a full-time Labor Department employee during 2020 and 2021.

Kang applied for pandemic unemployment assistance through the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance in April 2020. In the application, he claimed under penalty of perjury that he was self-employed, an independent contractor or a gig worker whose normal work had been severely limited by COVID-19.

He also claimed he had not earned more than $89 per week since March 8, 2020.

The state approved the application. Kang continued filing weekly certifications through September 2021 in which he claimed he had not worked or received income during the applicable periods, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Those statements resulted in Kang receiving $45,868 in benefits for which he was not eligible.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act created the temporary pandemic unemployment assistance program in March 2020. It extended unemployment benefits to self-employed workers, independent contractors and others who generally did not qualify for traditional unemployment insurance.

Massachusetts administered the program through its Division of Unemployment Assistance. Applicants were required to report whether they worked or received income when registering and submitting weekly certifications.

The case was investigated by the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts announced in March that it had established a Benefit and Voter Fraud Team to investigate and prosecute the misuse of taxpayer-funded benefits. Federal officials have asked members of the public to report suspected benefit fraud in Massachusetts by calling 855-722-6621.