News

$100 Billion Stolen From COVID-19 Relief Programs

3.5kviews





According to the U.S. Secret Service, almost $100 billion has been stolen from government COVID-19 relief programs. The goal of the programs was to assist businesses and individuals who lost employment because of the pandemic.

This data derives from the Labor Department and the Small Business Administration and Secret Service cases. They don’t include COVID-19 fraud cases prosecuted by the Justice Department.

The labor department has noted that most fraud came from unemployment, reporting that $87 billion in those type of benefits could have been given out improperly.

Additionally, the Secret Service has taken over $1.2 billion while looking into unemployment insurance and loan fraud. They have also given back $2.3 billion of “fraudulently obtained money by working financial partners and states to reverse transactions”.

The Secret Service is currently investigating 900 criminal investigations related to the pandemic, and 100 people have been apprehended.



4 Comments

Leave a Response