Fraudsters in US may have stolen $200B in federal COVID relief funds

More than $200 billion in COVID relief loans and grants were distributed to potentially fraudulent actors, nearly one-fifth of all Small Business Administration funds disbursed in the US, Report informs referring to NBC News.

The estimate is the highest yet for the $1.2 trillion released under the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan from March 2020 to January 2022, by which time funding for both programs had ended. The figure is based on the watchdog’s casework, prior reports and advanced data analysis. Last year NBC News reported that fraud in the two programs, which together approved 22 million loans, could reach as high as $160 billion.

The new number shows that as much as 17% of the programs’ revenue may have been stolen. That’s far above the 5% that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates is the standard amount of expected fraud for any organization’s finances.

To date, at least $30 billion has been recovered, seized or returned to the U.S. Treasury. Financial institutions returned $8 billion and borrowers returned an additional $20 billion. The IG’s report said the watchdog's work has produced 529 fraud convictions so far and that 570 investigations are ongoing.