The Nation : Fraud in Jobless Aid Cited

Federal investigators said that a ring of 17 people defrauded the government of $500,000 in unemployment benefits by forging forms showing military service, and hundreds of ex-servicemen discharged for misconduct also improperly collected jobless benefits. Wrongful payments of at least $1.1 million from 1981 to 1985 were uncovered under a Labor Department program to provide up to 13 weeks of jobless benefits to newly discharged military personnel, investigators said. Four persons have been convicted in the forgery scheme, which involved people in California, New Jersey and Massachusetts.