[JUSTTHENEWS] Nearly $100 billion has been stolen from pandemic relief funds, according to the Secret Service.The stolen money was diverted from the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a third program created to issue unemployment assistance funds, the agency said Tuesday, according to CNBC. Over $2.3 billion has so far been recovered, and roughly 100 suspects, from individuals to groups, have been arrested.
The government has released roughly $3.5 trillion in COVID-19 relief money since the pandemic started in early 2020.
| If I got my places right, $100 billion is less than 3% of $3.5 trillion, a little high but not shocking. I’d expected fraud would be 20% or more. |
The new coordinator, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roy Dotson, told CNBC: "I’ve been in law enforcement for over 29 years and worked some complex fraud investigations for 20 plus years, and I’ve never seen something at this scale."
He also said the agency still has over 900 active investigations related to pandemic fraud.
| The Times of Israel adds: |
The Secret Service said it has seized more than $1.2 billion while investigating unemployment insurance and loan fraud and has returned more than $2.3 billion of fraudulently obtained funds by working with financial partners and states to reverse transactions. The Secret Service says it has more than 900 active criminal investigations into pandemic fraud, with cases in every state, and 100 people have been arrested so far.
The White House downplayed the statement, saying Wednesday that the estimate is based on old reports. White House press secretary Jen Psaki
...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State under Obama. A new American success story, under Biden she became spokeswoman for the whole administration, and she was even able to get her sister a job..., when asked to comment on the figure, said, "There is no new research, data or analysis of fraud here."
The Justice Department said last week that its fraud section had prosecuted over 150 defendants in more than 95 criminal cases and had seized over $75 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program funds, as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with the proceeds.
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