Mervyn Fombe Abiko, 35, from Prince George’s County, has pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in a conspiracy that fraudulently obtained over $1 million in unemployment benefits. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced the guilty plea on Wednesday.
According to court documents, Abiko admitted to conspiring with others between February 2020 and February 2021 to file fraudulent unemployment insurance claims using stolen personal information (PII). Abiko, along with co-defendants Martin Tabe and Gladstone Njokem, obtained and shared the personal details of unsuspecting victims to submit these false claims for unemployment benefits.
The fraudulent claims were submitted in several states, including Maryland, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Investigators traced over $1.3 million in benefits to this scheme, impacting more than 183 victims.
Authorities uncovered connections between the fraudulent applications through shared IP addresses, mailing addresses, and email accounts. Co-defendants Martin Tabe, 35, from Bowie, Maryland, and Sylvester Atekwane, 34, from Hyattsville, Maryland, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.
Additionally, Gladstone Njokem, 37, of Hyattsville, was previously sentenced to more than four years in federal prison on October 13, 2023, for his part in the fraud.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Labor–OIG, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Department of the Treasury–OIG.
