A young couple from Loir-et-Cher has been indicted and imprisoned in a financial case related to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The two suspects would indeed have taken advantage of the partial unemployment system to declare fictitious employees and embezzle more than 450,000 euros.
In total, the scam cost the state more than 450,000 euros.
In Blois, in the Loir-et-Cher, a couple was indicted and imprisoned for having organized a vast partial unemployment fraud.
The crooks are said to have taken advantage of the fairly generous system put in place to help businesses shut down due to the coronavirus crisis.
By declaring employees who did not exist, they thought they had found a gold vein.
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To make maximum profit, this young couple has secured the services of an accomplice accountant.
From half a dozen real companies, the suspected crooks have artificially inflated the workforce of these companies, declaring dozens of totally fictitious employees.
Organized gang scam
State aid was automatically paid.
But afterwards, the labor inspectorate looked at these companies and warned the courts.
The Orléans judicial police, the Blois prosecutor's office and the Loir-et-Cher labor department worked hand in hand to dismantle this organized gang scam.
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The couple at the heart of the case was indicted and 216,000 euros were seized from their bank accounts.
And, it is quite rare in financial matters, the judge placed the two suspects in pretrial detention.