Waipahu Women Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Pandemic and Tax Fraud While Earning Millions from an Unlicensed Construction Business

HONOLULU - United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Heidi Cafirma, 46, of Waipahu, Hawaii, was sentenced on September 30, 2026, by United States District Judge Shanlyn A.S. Park to 24 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for filing false tax returns and wire fraud. Cafirma was also ordered to forfeit $70,500 and pay up to over $1 million in restitution, which total amount will be determined by the court at a later date. Cafirma pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement in December 2025.

In 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act created the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) unemployment insurance program to provide emergency unemployment payments to certain workers whose livelihoods were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic but who were ineligible for traditional state unemployment insurance benefits, such as business owners, self-employed workers, independent contractors, and those with a limited work history who were out of business or had significantly reduced their services as a direct result of the pandemic. To obtain either traditional unemployment insurance (UI) or PUA UI benefit payments, claimants could submit a claim online. If approved, the U.S. Treasury typically deposited payments every week into a claimant's bank account. To continue to receive benefit payments, claimants were required to certify on a weekly basis under penalty of law that they remained unemployed or partially employed, and eligible to receive benefit payments.

According to court documents, Cafirma admitted that between June 2020 and September 2021, she submitted 22 false claims online for UI benefit payments for herself by repeatedly falsely certifying under penalty of law that she was unemployed and not receiving income, despite knowing that her certifications were false because she received over $1 million in income during that period from her and her husband's unlicensed construction business. Cafirma fraudulently obtained at least $70,500 in unemployment insurance and PUA UI benefits to which she was not entitled.

Between 2016 and 2020, Cafirma also willfully failed to pay federal and state taxes on over $3.4 million in income from her and her husband's construction business. She provided false documents to her tax return preparer that omitted income and then filed false tax returns with the IRS. Over at least four years, Cafirma took steps to conceal her income by directing construction customers to write checks to her personally rather than to her business, funneling income through sixteen bank accounts at multiple financial institutions, and structuring multiple cash deposits in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid banks from filing of currency transaction reports.

"Bringing to justice criminals like Cafirma - who defraud the government, divert critical and limited resources to themselves out of greed, and steal from hardworking, taxpaying citizens - remains one of my office's top priorities," said United States Attorney Ken Sorenson. "We will continue to leverage our resources and those of the National Fraud Enforcement Division to investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars."

"Ms. Cafirma's pattern of fraud has caught up to her with today's sentencing. Not only did she lie to fraudulently underpay her fair share of taxes, Ms. Cafirma also stole funds meant to help others in the community that truly needed the assistance," said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jay Gregory, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office. "IRS-CI is committed to protecting our communities and the financial systems we all rely on, and we will continue to investigate criminals like Ms. Cafirma."

The IRS - Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca A. Perlmutter prosecuted the case.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.