Los Angeles, California – Inglewood resident Selena Stewart, 45, stands accused of orchestrating an elaborate and deeply troubling fraud scheme that exploited a national crisis and preyed on the identities of unsuspecting victims—including incarcerated individuals in California state prisons.
Federal prosecutors allege that between March and December of 2020, Stewart and two co-defendants, Toby Brazier of Los Angeles and Tony Queen of Culver City, conspired to defraud the California Employment Development Department (EDD) out of more than $1.3 million in pandemic unemployment assistance.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of Americans found themselves jobless and desperate for relief, the federal government expanded unemployment benefits through emergency legislation. That expanded aid became a target for scammers across the country—and, if the indictment holds, Stewart was among the more prolific…