Kansas City, Missouri, woman faces up to 30 years in prison for fraud related to Social Security benefits

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, woman faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison after being found guilty by a federal jury Tuesday of stealing federal benefits.

Divianys Morales-Alvarez, 50, was found guilty of two counts of theft of government funds, one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Federal prosecutors said the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General received a report in 2024 regarding a retirement beneficiary living in Cuba in substandard conditions.

Upon the beneficiary's retirement in February 2020, she had moved to Cuba, where the U.S. Department of the Treasury does not allow government payments.

Since the Social Security Administration was not made aware of the beneficiary's move, it continued to send her monthly benefits to her bank account in the United States, which her daughter, Morales-Alvarez, was a joint owner of.

From February 2020 to September 2024, the Social Security Administration sent over $66,000 to that joint account. Morales-Alvarez claimed she had sent $10,000 of those benefit payments in cash to Cuba to take care of her mother, who had dementia.

Authorities said that while records show Morales-Alvarez did not travel to Cuba herself, she claimed to have sent her mother many packages containing supplies and clothing with other people traveling to Cuba.

According to evidence introduced at trial, Morales-Alvarez sent about $1,600 and four to five packages containing clothes and supplies over that four-year stretch.

She then spent the remaining money on herself, including purchasing a vehicle and paying her delinquent real estate taxes.

Morales-Alvarez also intercepted United States Treasury checks made payable to her mother for tax refunds and credits while she was living in Cuba, according to authorities.

Investigators allege Morales-Alvarez forged her mother’s signature on the back of the checks, deposited them into the joint account, and transferred the majority of the money to her own savings account. She then spent that money on her own living expenses.

Under federal statutes, Morales-Alvarez faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years without parole.

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