Move FM Global News

WASHINGTON D.C.: A federal watchdog has said that more than $200 billion was potentially stolen from the US government’s COVID-19 relief programs, as the US Small Business Administration (SBA) loosened its controls to quickly disburse the funds.

According to a report released this week by the Small Business Administration’s office of inspector-general, some 17 percent of all funds related to the government’s coronavirus Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program schemes were potentially disbursed fraudulently.

The SBA distributed about $1.2 trillion of EIDL and PPP funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also disputed the more than $200 billion figure put forward by the watchdog, claiming that the inspector-general had significantly overestimated potential fraud.

The inspector-general’s fraud estimate for the EIDL program was placed at more than $136 billion, while the PPP fraud estimate was $64 billion.

Many fraud cases related to government assistance programs are currently being investigated in the US.

In May 2021, a COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was launched by Attorney-General Merrick Garland, and in 2022 the US Justice Department appointed federal prosecutor Kevin Chambers to lead an investigation into alleged fraud of government pandemic assistance programs.

Earlier this year, a separate watchdog report said the US government likely awarded about $5.4 billion in COVID-19 aid to people with questionable Social Security numbers.