US EditionAs COVID-19 spread, so did fraud. Minnesota saw a lot of it
- The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting COVID-era unemployment insurance fraud cases, aiming to recover stolen taxpayer money, with the original statute of limitations set to expire on March 27th.
- Due to loopholes and relaxed oversight during the pandemic when rapid distribution of aid was prioritized, fraudsters, including gang members, prisoners, and international crime rings, exploited the system, leading to an estimated $100 to $135 billion in stolen UI benefits.
- The Department of Labor and Department of Justice report over 157,000 open UI fraud hotline complaints and more than 1,648 open, uncharged COVID-19 fraud investigations, while a data-sharing project found that scammers received $1.3 billion by defrauding both unemployment insurance and business loan programs.
- Representative Jason Smith stated a no vote is a vote to allow these criminals to keep what they stole, while former director of COVID-19 fraud enforcement for the Justice Department, Mike Galdo, said prosecutors are still playing catch-up with the volume of fraud and that he doesn't think there has ever been anything like this.
- Despite Congress extending the statute of limitations for pandemic-era business relief fraud in 2022, only $5 billion of the potentially $400 billion stolen has been recovered, and without Senate action on H.R. 1156, federal law enforcement will be unable to prosecute over 2,500 uncharged criminal matters related to COVID-era criminal unemployment fraud.
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Statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment fraud expires; bipartisan coalition seeks extension
close Video COVID five years later: Impact on the workplace Healthcare took center stage during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the five years since, the industry has experienced change and innovation. Federal law enforcement’s hands are tied now that the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in COVID-era unemployment programs has expired. While Congress extended the statute of limitations for pandemic-era business relief fraud in 2022, the …
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