Inspector general cites a lack of controls on the distribution of emergency funds as the cause.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration said that taxpayers lost more than $200 billion in COVID relief funds due to fraud, waste, and abuse. The initial estimates had been around $100 billion.
Programs such as the Paycheck Protection and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs experienced the most fraud. The Inspector General said this was due to removed or weakened controls on the distribution of emergency funds.
The inspector general’s report stated, “OIG is working on tens of thousands of investigative leads on alleged fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer resources. Thousands of investigations will ensue for years to come because of swift congressional action to increase the statute of limitations to 10 years for COVID-19 EIDL and PPP fraud. We continue to identify fraud schemes, and we anticipate the overall potential fraud estimate could fluctuate; therefore, we may issue periodic updates to this report.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For SBA Inspector General Mike Ware as he reports on the fraud and other losses due to the lax control on COVID aid.
- For Administrator Isabella Guzman as she heads the Small Business Administration.
- For U.S. officials as they seek to recover misappropriated or unused COVID funding.
Sources: ABC News, Blaze Media
