Press Release

Concord, NH -- Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and Department of Employment Security Commissioner George Copadis announce that Nicole Bastarache, age 40, of Manchester, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on March 6, 2020, in Hillsborough County Superior Court – Northern District, on one count of unemployment compensation fraud, a class B felony.

Ms. Bastarache was charged with knowingly failing to disclose her employment and earnings to the Department of Employment Security between July 11, 2015 and October 12, 2015, in order to obtain or increase her unemployment compensation benefits, in that on 10 occasions she submitted a weekly continued claim form and answered “No” to the question: “Did you work or perform any services, including self-employment last week? Regardless of whether or not you have been paid for the work or services.” As a result, Ms. Bastarache fraudulently received $4,160.00 in unemployment benefits.

Ms. Bastarache was sentenced to 12 months in the House of Corrections, with all but 4 days suspended for 2 years, conditioned on good behavior, the payment of restitution and penalty totaling $4,992.00, and the use of her likeness in the Department of Employment Security Benefits and Rights Interview, which discusses the ramifications of committing unemployment fraud. She is disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits for 52 weeks.

The Department of Employment Security provides unemployment compensation benefits to eligible claimants who are unemployed through no fault of their own. The Department of Justice investigates and prosecutes criminal unemployment compensation fraud with the goal of protecting New Hampshire’s unemployment compensation trust fund.