When the history of this pandemic is written, there will be many chapters devoted to the failure of response policies.
Indeed, one of the largest of those chapters will describe the fraud, waste, and abuse associated with the COVID relief program.
Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide.More than $2.3 billion in stolen funds have been recovered so far, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 suspects who span the spectrum from individuals to organized groups, according to the agency. The government has shelled out about $3.5 trillion in Covid relief money since early 2020, when the pandemic began.
One Alabama woman is an excellent example of a relief-fund fraudster.
Corine Campbell of Saraland, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was accused of helping with more than 50 bogus applications for money through the government’s Paycheck Protection Program.The case began when a man who claimed to have a landscaping service sought and received almost $21,000 in assistance money even though he was in prison during the time covered by the application, documents showed. Another man who claimed to have a janitorial service received money based on an application.According to Campbell’s plea agreement, she forged credit union statements showing the two men had the exact say account balances. She also pleaded guilty to a firearms charge filed after investigators searched her apartment and found a weapon she wasn’t allowed to have because of a previous theft conviction.
But worry not! U.S. Secret Service is naming a pandemic fraud recovery coordinator.
Roy Dotson, formerly assistant special agent in charge of the Jacksonville, Fla., field office, will assume the role.
“The Secret Service currently has more than 900 active criminal investigations into fraud specific to pandemic-related relief funds,” Dotson said in a news release. “Every state has been hit, some harder than others.”The Secret Service is using its Cyber Fraud Task Forces to partner with federal, state, local and tribal governments, law enforcement and others to deal with pandemic funds fraud….Dotson said the goal with this accelerated anti pandemic fraud effort is to maximize the investigative impact and seize as much stolen pandemic money as possible.
I am sure the Secret Service will operate with the usual government efficiency on the fraud.
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