Levita Almuete Ferrer, a 64-year-old former senior budget analyst at the U.S. State Department's Office of the Chief of Protocol, has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $650,000 over a two-year period from March 2022 to April 2024. Ferrer abused her signature authority over a State Department checking account during her tenure. The embezzlement case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., and she faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. This case follows other federal fraud incidents, including a former IT manager at a Kent energy company who pleaded guilty to $1 million in wire fraud, and Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who admitted to federal public corruption charges for pocketing $7,000 from a city-funded bonus. Additionally, investigations have revealed that at least 100,000 federal employees received unemployment benefits while still employed.