Shortly after Tiffany Anne Bright started dating an Army veteran in 2021, she helped him apply for service-related disability benefits. He had previously served in an active-duty role from 2008 to 2012 and was more than qualified to receive benefits. However, other than a short five-month window, the veteran never received the benefits. Turns out Bright was running an elaborate, lengthy scheme to defraud the United States of almost $200,000 in unearned veteran disability entitlements. Unbeknownst to the veteran, his benefits were deposited into accounts owned wholly by Bright.
To shore up the benefits, Bright submitted fake documents, falsely claiming she married and later divorced the man to increase the monthly payments. She submitted several online documents associated with those benefits, including forms that added Bright’s children as dependents. She also submitted other forms related to compensation, including pension, survivors’ benefits, rehabilitation, employment, and educational assistance, as well as home loan and life insurance coverage materials.
In 2022, the veteran got a letter notifying him of changes to his account, which was a surprise to him since he believed those benefits were paying off an educational debt he had incurred. Bright didn’t go down without a fight while her scheme was unraveling, however. The direct deposit account information was changed no less than eight times during the last two-week period of the scheme. The veteran’s phone calls would change the direct deposit account to his bank while Bright’s online changes would change it right back to bank accounts she owned.
Relationships can’t last on deceptions and lies. Nor can fraudulent schemes. On October 31, 2024, Bright only pleaded guilty to stealing veteran benefits.
Shout out to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Washington City woman accused of stealing $150K in veteran benefits pleads guilty” published by St. George News on October 31, 2024.
A Washington County woman accused of stealing more than $150,000 in veteran’s disability benefit payments for nearly a decade has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and other federal charges.
The defendant, 39-year-old Tiffany Ann Bright, of Washington City, was initially charged with three counts of wire fraud, two counts of theft of government funds, one count of theft of government property and one count of providing a false statement, according to the indictment filed March 13 by federal prosecutor Travis K. Elder.