OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma may have paid out tens in millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims since the start of the pandemic, records show.
In a blunt email, the state's chief information officer, Jerry Moore, blames the loss on a disconnect in culture at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, the state agency responsible for processing claims.
"I do not know how to move forward and help Oklahomans without business process and leadership change," Moore wrote in the email Thursday to the director of another state agency, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. He specifically complained that Robin Roberson, who has since stepped down as executive director of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, did not accept his guidance. "She continued to not only not make adjustments, but entrench in current process," he wrote. "At this point the entire OESC staff is oriented to impede progress."
In a May 3 email about fraud, Moore wrote about discovering more than 80,000 claims had invalid area codes for phone numbers. He wrote payments were being blocked on those claims but noted "41,087 of these claims were getting weekly payments totaling $17,415,044 this week."