This file photo taken on May 12, 2020 Healthcare workers wait for patients to be tested at a walk-in COVID- 19 testing site in Arlington, Virginia. The White House said on January 30, 2023 that the national and public health emergencies declared just as the COVID 19 epidemic took hold three years ago will officially end May 11. A federal watchdog said in a report released on Monday that the US government likely gave $5.4 billion in COVID 19 aid to people with questionable Social Security numbers.
The watchdog, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, said 69,323 questionable Social Security Numbers SSNs were used to obtain $5.4 billion from the Small Business Administration's SBA COVID 19 EIDL program and Paycheck Protection Program PPP The loans were disbursed between April 2020 and October 2022 and were disbursed between April 2020 and October 2022.
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By August 2020, about 57,500 Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans worth $3.6 billion were disbursed, according to the report.
The United States is probing a number of fraud cases linked to US government assistance programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, unemployment insurance and Medicare. Attorney General Merrick Garland launched a COVID 19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021.
The US Justice Department tapped Kevin Chambers as a federal prosecutor to lead its efforts to investigate fraudsters who used the pandemic as an excuse to bilk government assistance programs.
The report shows the significant fraud and identity theft that occurred under the previous administration due to the lack of basic anti-fraud controls, as well as the Biden administration's quick actions to reinstate strong anti-abuse measures in these emergency small business programs, said Gene Sperling, senior adviser to President Joe Biden, in an emailed statement.
The watchdog report stated that the US Small Business Administration made improvements to its assistance program controls in 2021. Biden took office in January.
In September, the inspector general for the US Labor Department said fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from the United States' unemployment insurance program during the coronavirus outbreak by using Social Security numbers of deceased individuals.
In September, federal prosecutors charged dozens of defendants with stealing $250 million from a government aid program that was supposed to feed children in need during the epidemic.