Justice Department Announces Results of Nationwide COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Action

Summary

A press release of the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs, dated Wednesday, August 23, 2023, announcing the results of a nationwide COVID-19 fraud enforcement action carried out from May through July 2023. It states that the action included 718 enforcement actions, including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants, for offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, with court-ordered restitution of over $57 million and forfeiture of over $231.4 million. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced two new COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Forces, at the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the District of Colorado and the District of New Jersey. The release quotes Attorney General Merrick B. Garland as saying the Department has seized over $1.4 billion in stolen relief funds.

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PRESS RELEASE



Justice Department Announces
Results of Nationwide COVID-19
Fraud Enforcement Action
Wednesday, August 23, 2023


For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

Department Also Announces the Launch of Two New COVID-19
Fraud Strike Forces
The Justice Department announced today the results of a coordinated, nationwide
enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718 enforcement actions
– including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants – for offenses related to
over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud.

“The Justice Department has now seized over $1.4 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that
criminals had stolen and charged over 3,000 defendants with crimes in federal districts
across the country,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This latest action,
involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should
send a clear message: the COVID-19 public health emergency may have ended, but the
Justice Department’s work to identify and prosecute those who stole pandemic relief
funds is far from over.”

The announcement was made by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco at a
roundtable meeting of senior Justice Department officials, law enforcement partners,
and Office of Inspector General (OIG) executives. Deputy Attorney General Monaco also
announced the launch of two additional COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Forces: one
at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, and one at the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the District of New Jersey. These two strike forces add to the three strike
forces launched in September 2022 in the Eastern and Central Districts of California, the
Southern District of Florida, and the District of Maryland.

“The law enforcement actions announced today reflect the Justice Department’s focus –
working with our law enforcement partners nationwide – on bringing to justice those
who stole from American businesses and families at a time of national emergency,” said
Deputy Attorney General Monaco. “The two new Strike Forces launched today will
increase our reach as we continue to pursue fraudsters and recover taxpayer funds, no
matter how long it takes.”

At the meeting, Michael C. Galdo, Acting Director of COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement,
detailed the results of the three-month coordinated law enforcement action that took
place from May through July 2023, which included criminal, civil, and forfeiture actions.
More than 50 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, including the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike
Forces, the Justice Department’s Criminal and Civil Divisions, and more than a dozen law
enforcement and OIG partners worked together to conduct the sweep.

“I applaud the hard work of our prosecutors around the country,” said Acting Director
Galdo. “However, this announcement is not a victory lap. Our mission is not complete.
We know from our investigative partners that identifying those who committed
pandemic relief fraud and recovering stolen funds is difficult work. But the Justice
Department, including our strike forces, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and the Criminal and
Civil Divisions, is committed to using our criminal, civil, and forfeiture tools to hold these
fraudsters accountable.”

As part of the effort, 718 law enforcement actions occurred, including criminal charges,
civil charges, forfeitures, guilty pleas, and sentencings, with a combined total actual loss
of more than $836 million. Criminal charges were filed against 371 defendants, and 119
defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial during the sweep. Over $57 million
in court-ordered restitution was imposed. 117 civil matters occurred during the sweep,
with over $10.4 million in judgments. Prosecutors worked with law enforcement to
secure forfeiture of over $231.4 million.

As part of the announcement, Acting Director Galdo said that 63 of the defendants had
alleged connections to violent crime, including violent gang members also accused of
using pandemic funds to pay for a murder for hire. Twenty-five defendants have alleged
connections to transnational crime networks.

Many of the cases in the enforcement action involve charges related to pandemic
unemployment insurance benefit fraud and fraud against the two largest pandemic
Small Business Administration programs: the Paycheck Protection Program and
Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Additional matters involved pandemic healthcare billing
fraud, fraud against the Emergency Rental Assistance program, and fraud committed
against the IRS Employee Retention Credit program (ERC), a refundable tax credit for
businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees and were affected during
the COVID-19 pandemic. IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) worked with the California
Strike Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey to bring
multimillion dollar ERC fraud cases during the enforcement action.

In May 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task
Force (CFETF) to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with
agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-
related fraud. The task force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most
culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with
administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting
and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing
information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.

The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Action cases were prosecuted by the following Justice
Department entities: Criminal Division’s Fraud Section; Civil Division’s Fraud Section,
Consumer Protection Branch; and by the following U.S. Attorneys’ Offices: Northern
District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama, Arizona, Eastern District of California,
Central District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of
California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Middle District of Florida, Northern
District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Georgia, Northern
District of Georgia, Southern District of Georgia, Southern District of Indiana, Idaho,
Northern District of Illinois, Northern District of Iowa, Eastern District of Kentucky,
Western District of Kentucky, Western District of Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland,
Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan, Eastern District of Missouri,
Western District of Missouri, Northern District of Mississippi, Maine, Montana, Eastern
District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, Nevada, Northern District of New York, Northern District of Oklahoma, Northern
District of Ohio, Southern District of Ohio, Oregon, Eastern District of Pennsylvania,
Middle District of Pennsylvania, Western District of Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode
Island, Eastern District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas,
Western District of Texas, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia, Eastern
District of Washington, Western District of Washington, Eastern District of Wisconsin,
and Northern District of West Virginia.

The cases were investigated by the following agencies: FBI; U.S. Secret Service; IRS-CI;
Defense Criminal Investigative Service; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Postal
Inspection Service; Army Criminal Investigations Division; Food and Drug
Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations; the Diplomatic Security Service; and
the Offices of Inspectors General from the Small Business Administration, Department of
Labor, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal
Housing Finance Agency, Federal Reserve Board, Social Security Administration, the
Special Inspector General for Pandemic Relief, Treasury, and the Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration.

OCDETF Fusion Center and OCDETF’s International Organized Crime Intelligence and
Operations Center, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, the Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network, and the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task
Force provided key support.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF)
Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form
at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Updated August 23, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD
Components
Office of the Attorney General
Civil Division
Criminal Division
Criminal - Criminal Fraud Section
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Office of the Deputy Attorney General
USAO - Alabama, Northern
USAO - Alabama, Southern
USAO - Arizona
USAO - California, Central
USAO - California, Eastern
USAO - California, Northern
USAO - California, Southern
USAO - Colorado
USAO - Delaware
USAO - District of Columbia
USAO - Florida, Middle
USAO - Florida, Northern
USAO - Florida, Southern
USAO - Georgia, Middle
USAO - Georgia, Northern
USAO - Georgia, Southern
USAO - Idaho
USAO - Illinois, Northern
USAO - Indiana, Southern
USAO - Iowa, Northern
USAO - Kentucky, Eastern
USAO - Kentucky, Western
USAO - Louisiana, Western
USAO - Maine
USAO - Maryland
USAO - Massachusetts
USAO - Michigan, Eastern
USAO - Michigan, Western
USAO - Mississippi, Northern
USAO - Missouri, Eastern
USAO - Missouri, Western
USAO - Montana
USAO - Nevada
USAO - New Hampshire
USAO - New Jersey
USAO - New York, Northern
USAO - North Carolina, Eastern
USAO - North Carolina, Western
USAO - Ohio, Northern
USAO - Ohio, Southern
USAO - Oklahoma, Northern
USAO - Oregon
USAO - Pennsylvania, Eastern
USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle
USAO - Pennsylvania, Western
USAO - Puerto Rico
USAO - Rhode Island
USAO - Texas, Eastern
USAO - Texas, Northern
USAO - Texas, Southern
USAO - Texas, Western
USAO - Virginia, Eastern
USAO - Virginia, Western
USAO - Washington, Eastern
USAO - Washington, Western
USAO - West Virginia, Northern
USAO - Wisconsin, Eastern
Press Release Number: 23-906


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