An eastern Iowa man will spend nine months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining federal pandemic unemployment benefits.
Fifty-five-year-old Brian Whorton of Marion pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Court information showed he fraudulently received more than $13,000 in pandemic unemployment funds from Arizona. The information says Whorton withdrew some of the funds in cash for his own use and used a Bitcoin ATM to send funds to others involved in the scheme.
He was ordered to pay the unemployment money back.