McGregor Scott Appointed to Investigate Unemployment Fraud

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Former U.S. Attorney ( E.D. Cal.) McGregor Scott has been appointed special counsel in the investigation of $31 billion of unemployment insurance fraud in California, Evan Symon reports for the California Globe.

Six months after the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency first announced that up to $31 billion had been stolen by unemployment fraudsters in 2020, state officials announced Tuesday  that a former federal prosecutor had been selected so serve as a special counsel in the fraud investigation.

McGregor Scott, who was the Chief Federal Prosecutor for the Eastern District of California until resigning in February of this year and had previously been a U.S. Attorney and District Attorney of Shasta County, will  in addition to the fraud cases, look into specific claims made by criminals outside the U.S. and from prison inmates in California.

Scott was largely chosen due to his long career in California, his history of prosecuting fraudsters, and his prior experience in the case. In November 2020, Scott was the initial leader of a task force that initially looked into the Employment Development Department unemployment fraud cases, then only estimated at $2 billion.

I am quite pleased, and more than a little surprised, by this choice.