Former Suffolk County Corrections Officer Sentenced for COVID Unemployment and Loan Fraud

BOSTON - A former Suffolk County Corrections Officer was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for COVID unemployment and loan fraud.

Jasmine Murphy, 39, of Cambridge, Mass. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to time served (one day in prison) and two years of supervised release. The defendant was also ordered to pay $19,868 in restitution to the Department of Unemployment Assistance and $17,708 restitution to the Small Business Administration. In April 2026, Murphy pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements to a financial institution. Murphy was charged in December 2024.

Murphy had been a corrections officer with the Suffolk County Sherriff's Department from January 2022 to December 2024. Murphy fraudulently applied for pandemic unemployment and small business loan benefits while working for a workforce services company. While employed by that company, Murphy collected approximately $37,576 in unemployment benefits and small business loan funds.

In Murphy's PUA application, Murphy made fraudulent representations about her employment status and thereafter falsely claimed, on a weekly basis, that she did not work and did not receive any income during the prior week. In Murphy's PPP loan application, Murphy submitted false statements to SBA-approved lenders, including the income and/or payroll of her purported small businesses, in order to obtain her loan. Murphy also made false representations on forms submitted to request that her PPP loan be forgiven.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Kelly M. Lawson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao, Chief of the Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit, prosecuted the case.