How One Greedy Worker Stole From Us All During COVID

Matthew Hong, a 28-year-old economist from Middlesex, New Jersey, stood before a U.S. District Court this week and admitted to a crime that cuts deeper than the $13,300 he pocketed. While the nation grappled with the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hong exploited his position at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, falsifying sick leave claims to double-dip, working remotely for a private financial giant in New York City. This wasn’t just a personal failing; it was a betrayal of public trust at a moment when faith in government mattered most.

The details are galling. From June 2022 to July 2023, Hong logged 55 instances of claiming sick leave from his federal job, all while churning out economic forecasts for a Wall Street firm. He had access to sensitive employment data, the kind that moves markets, yet chose to game the system instead of serving it. As families struggled and workers lost jobs, Hong’s actions remind us of a stark truth: the safety nets we rely on can be undermined by those tasked with upholding them.

This case isn’t an isolated blip. It’s a flare, illuminating cracks in a system stretched thin by a pandemic and now buckling under the weight of inadequate oversight. Hong’s guilty plea to making false statements, announced on April 3, 2025, by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., demands we ask: how many more are slipping through, and why aren’t we doing more to stop them?

Hong’s fraud didn’t happen in a vacuum. The shift to remote work during the pandemic opened doors to exploitation that policymakers failed to lock. The Department of Labor, where Hong worked, was producing critical data to guide a reeling economy, yet its own employee was siphoning funds meant to support honest labor. Over $13,300 might seem modest compared to the multimillion-dollar scams uncovered in 2024’s Paycheck Protection Program fraud cases, but the principle stings just as hard. Every dollar misclaimed is a dollar stolen from taxpayers, from workers, from a system already battered by years of strain.

Look back to 2020, when unemployment spiked to levels unseen since the Great Depression, with over 20 million jobs lost in a single month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hong’s employer, scrambled to adapt, tracking a labor market in freefall. Meanwhile, fraud surged across federal programs, from unemployment benefits to small business loans, with the Justice Department recovering over $100 million last year alone. Hong’s case fits a pattern, one where lax oversight and remote work’s blind spots let opportunists thrive.

Advocates for stronger worker protections have long warned that without robust auditing and identity verification, federal agencies remain vulnerable. The False Claims Act, a Civil War-era law revitalized to fight modern fraud, has clawed back billions over decades, yet enforcement lags. Hong’s five-year maximum sentence feels like a slap on the wrist when you consider the broader damage: eroded trust in a government that’s supposed to protect, not enable, its people.

Some might argue this is just one bad apple, that most federal workers serve honorably. Fair enough. But that defense crumbles when you see the data: fraud cases tied to remote work spiked during the pandemic, with schemes ranging from fake credentials to outright theft. North Korean operatives even infiltrated U.S. firms with stolen identities in 2024, a chilling reminder of how porous our systems have become. Hong’s not an outlier; he’s a symptom of a disease we’ve ignored too long.

The Deferred Resignation Program, rolled out this year, tried to address conflicts of interest by letting federal employees transition to private roles under strict ethical rules. Good intent, weak execution. Hong slipped through before it even started, proving that patchwork fixes won’t cut it. We need real reform, not half-measures, to safeguard public resources.

This isn’t just about punishing Hong, though his July 17 sentencing can’t come soon enough. It’s about what his actions reveal: a government too slow to adapt, too trusting in a crisis, and too lenient when trust is broken. Advocates for economic justice see a bigger fight here, one tied to the disparities COVID-19 laid bare. While low-income workers bore the brunt of job losses, and middle-income nations clawed back unemployment gains, people like Hong gamed a system meant to level the playing field.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has spent decades tightening insider trading rules, from the 1934 Act to today’s transparent datasets, because premature access to economic data can destabilize markets. Hong’s role gave him that access, raising questions about whether his private-sector work crossed lines beyond sick leave fraud. The FBI and Labor Department’s Inspector General are digging, and they’d better find answers. Public servants with that kind of power owe us transparency, not deception.

Opponents of stricter oversight, often corporate apologists or deregulation hawks, claim it stifles efficiency. They’re wrong. Efficiency means nothing if it’s built on a foundation of unchecked greed. The Trump administration’s current term, with its tariff-driven inflation and public sector hiring freezes, has already squeezed working families. Adding fraud to the mix is salt in the wound. Stronger rules, better tech, and real consequences aren’t burdens; they’re necessities for a government that works for everyone, not just the cunning few.

Hong’s story ends with a courtroom confession, but ours doesn’t. His $13,300 haul is a drop in the bucket compared to the trust he cost us, a trust we can’t afford to lose. The path forward demands action: beefed-up audits, ironclad identity checks, and penalties that hit hard enough to deter. The Justice Department’s $100 million fraud recovery in 2024 proves we can fight back, but only if we commit to the long haul.

We deserve a government that reflects our values, one that prioritizes the single mom juggling remote work and childcare, the factory worker clocking overtime to keep the lights on, not the privileged few who see public service as a side hustle. Hong’s fraud is a wake-up call. Let’s answer it with the urgency it demands, building a system where accountability isn’t optional and equity isn’t negotiable.