Arizona Mexican Mafia Members and Associates Indicted for Fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Claims

PHOENIX- Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced that the State Grand Jury recently returned a 50-count Indictment against members and associates of the Arizona Mexican Mafia who made fraudulent claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The indictment alleges that members and associates committed fraud schemes and artifices, participating in a criminal syndicate, money laundering and conspiracy by filing fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims during 2020 and 2021. Associates provided false information to obtain Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds. Others received the government funds and used them to promote or further the objectives of the Arizona Mexican Mafia.

Individuals are presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was investigated by the FBI Phoenix Violent Street Gangs Task Force and the United States Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Covid Fraud Unit. Assistance was provided by the Arizona Department of Economic Security Inspector General's Office, the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry Inspector General's Office, the FBI's Correctional Intelligence Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons National Gang Unit.

A copy of the indictment is available here.