Ohio auditor: ODJFS officials delayed disclosure of unemployment fraud
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The department responsible for unemployment benefits delayed disclosing the number of fraudulent claims it was receiving for months during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Ohio’s state auditor.
State Auditor Keith Faber told cleveland.com on Wednesday that the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services did not report any unusual number of fraud claims or payments from June to December 2020 during routine audits.
In February this year, then-department head Kimberly Henderson said the state had paid $332 million in fraudulent claims last year.
“It was really, really disappointing to me that they had failed to make the required disclosures,” Faber told the newspaper.