Wilkins Estrella and Charlene Marte pled guilty to wire fraud and bank fraud on August 7, 2025. They used stolen social security numbers and other identifiable information to open debit cards, attempting to fraudulently acquire $1.6 million in pandemic relief funds. The fraud resulted in nearly $1 million in actual losses. Estrella misappropriated health information while employed at a Bronx hospital. Estrella is scheduled for sentencing on December 1, and Marte on November 5, 2025.
From at least 2020 to 2022, ESTRELLA and MARTE misused names, social security numbers, and other personally identifiable information belonging to hundreds of individuals to fraudulently obtain almost $1 million in COVID-19 stimulus checks and tax refunds from the IRS and unemployment insurance benefits from the New York State Department of Labor.
ESTRELLA, a former clerk at a Bronx hospital, is also charged with the wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information for accessing and stealing the data of at least 4,005 hospital patients for use in the fraud scheme.
Collection
[
|
...
]