Fraudsters may have stolen $200 billion in federal Covid relief funds in the US.
Reuters quoted a federal watchdog while announcing this and added: Small Business Administration (SBA) control and monitoring mechanisms have been weakened in the rush to disburse this funding.
According to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General, at least 17 percent of all funds from the government’s programs, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and the Check Protection Program (PPP), were likely distributed to fraudulent individuals. Is.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the US Small Business Administration spent about $1.2 trillion on these two programs.
The Small Business Administration rejected the figure of more than 200 billion dollars provided by the watchdog organization and said that the inspector general exaggerated the amount defrauded.
The agency added: experts estimate this figure to be 36 billion dollars and 86% of these frauds probably occurred in 2020 during the administration of former US President Donald Trump. Joe Biden assumed the presidency in January 2021.
The Inspector General has estimated the stolen figures in the FIDL program to be more than 136 billion dollars and for the PPP program at 64 billion dollars.
Reuters wrote: The United States is investigating many cases of fraud related to government aid programs. In May 2021, US Attorney General Merrick Garland launched a Task Force to Combat Fraud in the Covid-19 Programs.
Last year, the Justice Department appointed federal prosecutor Kevin Chambers to lead its efforts to investigate alleged fraud schemes aimed at circumventing government aid programs during the pandemic.
September 2022 The Inspector General of the US Department of Labor said that fraudsters may have stolen $45.6 billion from the unemployment insurance program during the coronavirus outbreak using tactics such as using the Social Security numbers of deceased people.
Also in September, federal prosecutors charged dozens of people with stealing $250 million from a government aid program. These donations were supposed to be used for needy children during the pandemic.
