There is still more work that needs to be done, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“He said that although the COVID-19 public health emergency has come to an end, the Justice Department’s efforts to uncover and bring to justice those responsible for stealing pandemic relief funds are still ongoing.”
According to the report, the government does not have enough resources to prosecute fraudsters who have engaged in various fraud schemes, including targeting the elderly through romance fraud, U.S. companies through business email compromise, and government programs through unemployment insurance fraud. Without adequate funding and support, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors will be unable to effectively combat these crimes, resulting in a loss of opportunities to recover significant amounts of fraud proceeds. This not only jeopardizes the financial well-being of our citizens and government institutions but also puts them at risk of becoming victims of future criminal activities.
U.S. Attorneys’ Offices have filed criminal charges against 3,500 individuals in cases related to pandemic fraud, resulting in losses exceeding $2.1 billion.
There has been a lack of comprehensive data on the extent of COVID-19 fraud.
According to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2023, the individuals who were convicted of pandemic fraud represent only a small portion of the overall fraudulent activities. The majority of fraud cases remain undetected and may never be fully uncovered.
The report states that the true scale of fraud linked to the COVID-19 relief funds will remain uncertain since not all cases will be detected, investigated, and resolved through legal or other means.
The GAO report also uncovered that the majority of those convicted will serve less than five years in prison, with hundreds of individuals not serving any time behind bars.
According to a recent GAO report, taxpayers incurred a staggering cost of up to $135 billion due to unemployment fraud during the pandemic. This equates to approximately 11% to 15% of the total amount of unemployment insurance benefits that were disbursed during this challenging period.
