WASHINGTON (Washington Insider Magazine) – Following up on President Joe Biden’s State of the Union commitment to take after offenders who took billions in relief funds, the Justice Department announced a lead prosecutor for pandemic fraud on Thursday.
Kevin Chambers, an assistant deputy attorney general, would coordinate civil and criminal enforcement actions aimed at pandemic-related crime, according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Team, which comprises almost 30 organizations that oversee and administer pandemic relief assistance, met on Thursday in Monaco’s office.
According to Monaco and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Department Of Justice has already initiated enforcement steps relating to more than $8 billion in potential pandemic fraud. According to ABC NEWS, this includes filing criminal charges in around 1,000 cases totaling over $1.1 billion in damages, filing civil actions against over 1,800 people and corporations for suspected fraud with over $6 billion in funding, and confiscating well over $1.2 billion in relief money.
Garland stated that they are aware that their job is not over, and that the department will continue to use every civil, administrative, and criminal means at its disposal to battle and deter pandemic fraud. Monaco went on to say that the offenses are not without a victim, and that every dollar stolen is taken from someone who needs it.
In a speech last week, Biden said that the Trump government undercut the watchdogs tasked with preventing the abuse of pandemic relief funding. He announced the job of top prosecutor, stating he was glad to see the watchdogs return.
On his one-year milestone, Garland spoke with his staff about his priorities. One of them was reviving white-collar criminal enforcement.
Small companies and the millions of individuals who lost their employment as a result of the epidemic were the focus of the COVID-19 relief efforts. A total of $5 trillion was approved for spending.
In December, the Secret Service estimated that possible fraudulent activity was approaching $100 billion. The majority of it was due to unemployment fraud.
That statistic came from data from the Department Of Labor and the Small Business Administration, and it wasn’t based on a new Secret Service study. COVID-19 fraud cases tried by the Department Of Justice were not included. The amount was reduced by the White House since the studies focused on concerns in 2020 and dealt with inappropriate payments, which includes not just fraud but also overpayments and other mistakes.
According to a Secret Service spokesperson, the agency does not have an updated phone number.
Chambers said he’ll focus his efforts at the Department Of Justice on pursuing huge criminal organizations that perpetrate several of the most atrocious fraud, many of which involves identity theft, as well as foreign actors that viewed the US government’s assistance packages as a chance for personal gain.
Biden urges Congress to raise fines and commit more resources to pursue blatant pandemic fraud. In the coming weeks, he expects to issue a new executive order aimed at curbing identity fraud in public benefit programmes.
