US authorities recover over $1.4 billion in stolen COVID relief funds

The U.S. Justice Department has successfully retrieved over 1.4 billion dollars in funds that were stolen from COVID-19 relief programs. With more than 3,000 defendants now facing federal charges across the nation, the scope of these fraudulent activities is becoming clear.

The Justice Department announced the findings of a countrywide enforcement campaign to combat coronavirus fraud, which included federal criminal charges against 371 individuals for acts involving over $836 million in suspected COVID fraud.

Reuters cited U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, as saying, "This latest action, involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should send a clear message: the COVID-19 public health emergency may have ended, but the Justice Department's work to identify and prosecute those who stole pandemic relief funds is far from over."Garland established a COVID fraud enforcement task team in May 2021.

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Furthermore, this sweeping enforcement action has resulted in 119 individuals either pleading guilty or being convicted at trial.

The US Justice Department appointed federal prosecutor Kevin Chambers to oversee the investigation into potential fraud schemes targeting pandemic aid programs last year.

A federal inspector reported in late June that over $200 billion from the US government's COVID-19 assistance programs were likely stolen, noting that the US Small Business Administration (SBA) had compromised its procedures in a haste to transfer the cash.

In September 2022, the inspector general of the United States Labor Department stated that during the coronavirus pandemic, fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from the United States' unemployment insurance program by employing strategies such as exploiting deceased persons' Social Security numbers.

Earlier this year, a separate watchdog audit concluded that the US government most certainly gave over $5.4 billion in COVID-19 funding to people with dubious Social Security numbers.

(Inputs from Reuters)

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