Three metro Detroit women are accused in a conspiracy that federal investigators said pumped more than $450,000 in suspected fraudulent pandemic benefits out of Michigan’s unemployment system.
In a federal complaint and arrest warrant unsealed April 22, 2026, investigators said it all started with an online “digital footprint:” an internet address tied to a home in Eastpointe.
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A Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General said in a criminal complaint filed April 17, that Lela Lewis, Letora Liggins and Mesa Allen took part in a scheme that “resulted in the outlay of over $450,000” in suspected fraudulent benefits from March 2020 to approximately October 2021.
Investigators said some claims were filed from an internet address subscribed to Liggins at her Eastpointe home, while other activity traced back to an address linked to Lewis.
Court records said investigators reviewed financial records, employment records, vehicle license records and property records along with unemployment claim data, surveillance and information from other agencies, including the FBI and Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency fraud unit.
The money trail
Often referred to as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan used Bank of America-issued debit cards and electronic funds transfers to pay claimants. Those transfers, the feds said, traveled through Bank of America data centers located in Virginia and Colorado, making them “interstate wire communications.”
Michigan’s unemployment system, called MiDAS, then captured access data, like dates, times, and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, that investigators said they later used to help stitch together the “coordinated operation.”
“Each time a claim is accessed in MiDAS, it creates a digital footprint of sorts,” the feds said.
For example, according to the complaint, a $32,000 claim filed in May 2020 was traced to Liggins and her Eastpointe address. Another claim also filed in May 2020 from the same IP address paid over $33,000 between June 2020 and August 2021, court records show.
In both cases, investigators said Bank of America ATM surveillance footage captured Liggins withdrawing cash at ATMs in St. Clair Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods and Eastpointe.
A phone number tied to that IP address, the agent said, “was associated with a UI claim in the name of Lewis.” Federal investigators said Lewis also used a Clinton Township address on her unemployment claim and driver’s license, and said Lewis is Allen’s sister.
Investigators said the claim paid out over $17,000 between June and November 2020, and another claim paid out over $20,000 between June 2020 and March 2021.
According to the feds, Bank of America surveillance footage showed Allen withdrawing cash tied to the fraudulent claims. The feds compared the footage to her driver’s license photo and a distinctive “Ariel” tattoo on her upper right arm.
What the women told investigators
In an interview on April 25, 2025, Liggins identified herself in the ATM footage tied to withdrawals from accounts connected to fraudulent claims, confirmed she knew Lewis, then stopped talking, the feds said.
Lewis, according to investigators, confirmed Allen was her sister, confirmed she lived at the St. Clair Shores address for several years, and acknowledged Liggins was “a friend.” But Lewis denied filing anything beyond a claim in her own name.
Allen denied filing fraudulent claims but acknowledged she was the person in the ATM footage. She told investigators someone else gave her debit cards and asked her to withdraw cash -- and she kept a small cut.
“Allen kept approximately $20-$30 from the cash she withdrew,” the feds said.
Lewis, Liggins and Allen were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 13, 2026, in Detroit.