Pa. man helped people get more than $200K in COVID unemployment money. Many were in prison.

By Chris Palmer, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

Under different circumstances, Alexander Daravina’s actions could have been viewed as noble.

Just months after COVID-19 upended the job market and international economy in 2020, Daravina, then 33, helped dozens of people apply for and receive thousands of dollars each from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

The problem, federal authorities said, is that he did so from a Pennsylvania state prison — and many of the beneficiaries were behind bars with him, making them ineligible for such benefits.

In all, prosecutors said, the scheme defrauded the government out of more than $200,000.

In an indictment unsealed earlier this week, prosecutors said Daravina — then a prisoner at State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery