Headline Roundup • January 3rd, 2023
How Public Employees Used COVID-19 Relief Funds for Fraud
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Over the last few months, numerous public employees across the country have been arrested for fraud involving the misuse of COVID-19 relief funds.
The Details: Five IRS agents from Tennessee and Mississippi submitted false loan applications intended for struggling business owners, and spent the money on luxury goods. In New York, a corrections officer, eight police officers and eight other city officials also filed for $1.5 million in relief under false businesses. The Secret Service estimates that COVID-19 relief fraud could total $100 billion.
How This Happened: Watchdog agencies investigating COVID-19 funding fraud, such as the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, say they need more funds from legislators in order to complete their jobs effectively. They also say the large amount of aid provided makes the money difficult to track.
How the Media Covered It: Outlets across the spectrum questioned whether COVID-19 funds are being spent responsibly in states across the country. Right-rated outlets often focused more on when funds were used for race-related policies or climate and social justice policies; left-rated sources often focused on states that used the money to build hotels, ballparks, and ski slopes.
Featured Coverage of this Story
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES
Some $100 billion has potentially been stolen from Covid-19 relief programs designed to help individuals and businesses harmed by the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service said.
The funds have “attracted the attention of individuals and organized criminal networks” world-wide, the agency said in a news release, though its estimate of stolen benefits represents just a fraction of the trillions of dollars in government relief provided since last year.
The Secret Service said it would work closely with a variety of federal agencies—including the Labor Department and Small Business Administration, which...
Five current or former employees in Tennessee and Mississippi with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been charged with scamming the federal government of hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds to bankroll extravagant lifestyles.
The suspects allegedly received money through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, which were designed to help business owners meet their financial obligations during the pandemic.
"These individuals – acting out of pure greed – abused their positions by taking government funds meant for citizens and businesses who desperately needed...
The New York Times
A New York City correction official, eight Police Department employees and eight other current and former city and state workers schemed to defraud Covid relief programs that were intended to provide money to struggling business owners, the authorities said on Wednesday.
The defendants submitted phony applications for disaster relief loans on behalf of hair and nail salons and day care programs that did not exist, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said. The prosecutors said many defendants spent the proceeds of their loans on personal expenses, like casino gambling, stocks, furniture and...
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