Department of Justice Fight Against COVID Fraud Escalates Across Country
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeing results as it escalates its crackdown on Covid-19 related fraud.
Back in September, the Department set up three strike force teams to tackle fraud stemming from the pandemic relief programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
At the time, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release, “These Strike Force teams will build on the Department’s historic enforcement efforts to deter, detect, and disrupt pandemic fraud wherever it occurs.”
Reuters reports that just days after the strike teams launched, charges were filed in Minnesota against “47 defendants for their alleged roles in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited the federally-funded child nutrition program.” The defendants allegedly set up shell companies and laundered money for food that was supposed to go to needy children at the height of the pandemic.
Arrests have been made across the country. Recently, eight defendants in the Southern District of Georgia were charged with participating in Covid fraud schemes as part of an investigation into the misuse of Covid relief funds.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, David H. Estes, said, “It’s disappointing that others abused these programs not for saving a valid business, but for lining their own pockets.”
In California, a Los Angeles man pleaded guilty to stealing $5.5 million in Covid relief loans.
And the U.S. Attorney in Idaho, Josh Hurwit, has set up a Covid-19 fraud task force to “identify, investigate, and prosecute those whose defrauded economic aid programs.”
Across the board, pandemic-related fraud continues to be a major issue for DOJ. More than 1,500 defendants charged, over $1.2 billion in relief funds seized, and civil investigations launched into more than 1,800 individuals and entities for alleged misconduct in connection with pandemic relief loans, totaling more than $6 billion.
The strike force teams are led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Galdo, the Justice Department’s Deputy Director for Covid 19-Fraud Enforcement. The teams have been operating out of U.S. attorney offices in the Southern District of Florida, the District of Maryland and a joint effort between the Central and Eastern Districts of California.
They are made up of prosecutors and agents from a wide swath of federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, and more.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Galdo said in a press release, “Assembling the fraud, cybercrime, and money laundering expertise of all our agency partners in these prosecutor-driven Strike Force teams is the best way to bring fraudsters to justice.”