BATON ROUGE – A Baton Rouge resident is accusing of unlawfully withdrawing supplemental security income benefits that were paid to her deceased boyfriend after his death.
United States of America, on behalf of the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), filed a complaint on April 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against Toya Leona Marie Hayes alleging violation the False Claims Act.
According to the complaint, Hayes was a live-in girlfriend of Rafael R. Frank, who passed away in December 2013. The suit states Frank received supplemental security income benefits and that Hayes fraudulently withdrew those payments through September 2015 for her own personal use. The plaintiff alleges Hayes withdrew $15,959.
The plaintiff holds Hayes responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to inform SSA of Frank's death and continued to withdraw payments from Frank's personal account.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks actual and treble damages, plus civil penalties of $11,000 for each false claim and such other and further relief as the court deems just and equitable. It is represented by Helina S. Dayries of U.S. Department of Justice in Baton Rouge.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana Case number 3:17-cv-00233