LOS ANGELES — A woman serving life in prison for murder admitted Wednesday that she played a leading role in a scam by inmates and others to use stolen identities to secure state unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.
Natalie Le DeMola, 38, pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
She is one of 13 people charged in May with running a scheme to get at least $2 million in mainly pandemic-related unemployment benefits, in some cases using the stolen identities of California prison inmates.
