Hundreds of suspects are accused of bilking pandemic-era government programs, even using the funds to finance violent crime at times.

In one of the largest national crackdowns on fraud targeting federal coronavirus aid, the Justice Department on Wednesday said it had brought 718 law enforcement actions in connection with the alleged theft of more than $836 million.

The vast array of criminal charges and other sanctions — part of a federal sweep conducted over the past three months — reflected the ongoing, costly work in Washington to recover stolen pandemic funds roughly three years after the peak of the public health crisis.

  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
    20·
    1 year ago

    The number seemed really small, but in the article it says:

    The Justice Department said Wednesday that it had filed charges or at least launched investigations related to roughly $8.6 billion in alleged coronavirus aid fraud since the start of the pandemic. That included hundreds of new cases, pleas, sentences and other developments secured as part of an enforcement campaign it ramped up from May through July.

    Which is better, but still not close to enough. I remember the reports coming out years ago that said:

    …participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters