A Brooklyn man, a known member of the Ninedee Gang in East New York, was sentenced to prison Thursday for stealing federal COVID-19 unemployment benefits from unsuspecting individuals.
Darnell Jones, 31, also known as “EJ,” was sentenced to 145 months in prison for wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He is accused of stealing more than $800,000 from federally funded unemployment insurance programs established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
As part of the sentence, Jones was ordered to pay $838,120 in restitution to the New York State Department of Labor. In addition, as part of his April 2025 guilty plea, Jones admitted to obtaining personal identifying information, including bank account information, between May 2021 and October 2024, to commit wire fraud with an intended loss of more than $2.7 million, prosecutors said.
Jones is a member of the Ninedee Gang, a criminal enterprise operating out of the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York, according to prosecutors. Ninedee Gang members were affiliated with the “5” and “6” Pink Houses apartment buildings and engaged in gang-related violence within and outside of the New
York City Housing Authority complex. The Ninedee Gang protected its turf through violence, made money by selling drugs and committing fraud, and sought to silence those they perceived to be working with law enforcement, authorities said.
Jones led the Ninedee Gang’s fraud schemes, also known as “scamming,” and worked with other members to earn money for the gang through check fraud, postal money order fraud, and unemployment benefits fraud, officials said.
Beginning in approximately November 2020, Jones sent a co-conspirator text messages containing the names of 10 New York residents in order to obtain personally identifiable information (PII) for those individuals without their knowledge. The co-conspirator sent Jones the requested individuals’ dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers. In exchange, Jones paid the co-conspirator with cryptocurrency. Subsequently, Jones submitted fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits to the New York State Department of Labor using the stolen PII, prosecutors said.
Evidence set forth in court indicated that Ninedee Gang leader Maliek Miller sent text messages in 2020 showed that Jones coordinated with fellow Ninedee Gang member Kevin Wint about pooling their money to purchase “glicks” or “plates,” which are references to firearms. Notably, in August 2021, law enforcement agents recovered two firearms, which were outfitted with laser sights, in a residence shared by Jones and Wint, officials said.
“Today’s sentence demonstrates that those who defraud innocent victims and pilfer federal funds to support violent gangs will face severe punishment,” Nocella said in a statement. “To successfully dismantle violent gangs who terrorize our neighborhoods and communities, it is essential that we cut off their sources of income, including from fraud schemes like the one perpetrated by the defendant here.”
