The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced the creation of 3 shock force groups for its existing efforts to combat and save COVID-19 fraud.
“These Strike Force groups will build on the Department’s historic enforcement efforts to deter, detect, and disrupt pandemic fraud wherever it occurs,” said U. S. Attorney General for S. U. S. Merrick B. Garland, in a DOJ statement. “The Justice Department seized more than $1. 2 billion in aid budget that criminals sought to borrow and has charged more than 1,500 defendants with crimes in federal districts across the country, yet our paintings are too much. “
In addition to criminal investigations, there have been civil investigations involving 1,800 Americans and entities for alleged misconduct similar to pandemic relief loans totaling more than $6 billion. Strike Force 3 will operate from the U. S. Attorney’s offices in the Southern District of Florida, the District of Maryland, and in a joint effort between the Central and Eastern California districts.
AG Garland created the COVID-19 Fraud Task Force in May 2021, to better coordinate resources between the Department of Justice and other “government agencies in efforts to combat and save pandemic-related fraud. “the ordinary amount of information” from states and the Small Business Administration, which has administered several giant pandemic lending programs. This information investigation was “key to identifying and prosecuting organized crime teams and foreign scammer networks that have stolen pandemic relief funds. “
DOJ’s efforts to combat COVID-19-related fraud schemes come with investigations involving the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Disaster Loan Program, unemployment insurance programs, and the enforcement of COVID-19 physical care fraud.
Days after the announcement of the 3 new strike force teams, the Department of Justice announced federal charges for offenders opposed to “47 defendants for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent $250 million scheme that exploited the federally funded child nutrition program” during the pandemic. According to the indictments, workers at a nonprofit participating in the federal child nutrition program recruited Americans and entities to open more than two hundred program sites in Minnesota. These sites then “fraudulently claimed that they were serving food to thousands of young people a day just weeks after their creation. “The defendants created “dozens of shell corporations” to register as program sites and also used shell corporations to launder the program’s proceeds. As a result, the defendants allegedly “obtained, embezzled and laundered millions of dollars intended to reimburse the charge of serving food to the youth. “
In fact, the Justice Department filed a civil injunction action in May to permanently prohibit nine tax preparers from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the lawsuit, “tax preparers prepared over 1300 returns in 2021 and over 3100 returns in 2022” which “falsely claimed over $53 million in credits and reimbursements intended to provide COVID-19-related relief to the self-employed. “obtained through the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns.
In April, the Department of Justice also announced coordinated enforcement action against healthcare-related COVID-19 fraud. and resulted in $149 million in false invoices to federal systems and theft in federally funded pandemic assistance systems. The systems referred to providing COVID-19 testing to “entice patients to provide their non-public credentials and saliva or blood samples. “This data was then used to submit false claims to Medicare for “unrelated, medically unnecessary and much more expensive tests or services. “
Another program leveraged telehealth policies aimed at increasing access to health care during the pandemic by “charging for fake telemedicine appointments. “The DOJ also filed charges against two defendants for misappropriation of the Provider Relief Fund budget and charges related to falsified COVID-19 vaccination records.
An enforcement action in May 2021 resulted in charges by fraudsters opposing 14 defendants involved in schemes with losses exceeding $143 million. In addition to scammer charges, the Centers for Medicare
In addition, in recent months alone, several Americans have been prosecuted for attempting to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (RAP), including:
While the influence of the pandemic itself appears to be receding, the influence of COVID-19 fraud will likely continue for years to come.
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