Hearing: COVID–19 Fraud: Law Enforcement's Response to Those Exploiting the Pandemic (Senate Judiciary, 2020)
Summary
A hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, on June 9, 2020, titled COVID–19 Fraud: Law Enforcement's Response to Those Exploiting the Pandemic. Chairman Lindsey O. Graham opens by saying the hearing concerns fraud related to the CARES Act, including scams against seniors selling masks that don't work. The witnesses named are Craig Carpenito, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; Bill Hughes, Associate Deputy Attorney General; Calvin Shivers, Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division, FBI; and Michael D'Ambrosio, Assistant Director of the Office of Investigations, United States Secret Service. The contents list prepared statements and responses to written questions.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
- Issuer
- Congressional materials
- Document type
- Congressional Hearing
- Case
- Chrg 116Shrg63175
Cite this document
“Hearing: COVID–19 Fraud: Law Enforcement's Response to Those Exploiting the Pandemic (Senate Judiciary, 2020).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/chrg-116shrg63175/
, SHA-256 95ab6fe10dc52092f0e34f64ddbd04f74300a0678cd92a75d3b25e6025f6a618.Full text
S. HRG. 116–721
COVID–19 FRAUD: LAW ENFORCEMENT’S
RESPONSE TO THOSE EXPLOITING THE PANDEMIC
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JUNE 9, 2020
Serial No. J–116–54
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
(
www.judiciary.senate.gov
www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
63–175 WASHINGTON : 2026
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina, Chairman
CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa, DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California,
JOHN CORNYN, Texas Ranking Member
MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
TED CRUZ, Texas RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
BEN SASSE, Nebraska SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
THOM TILLIS, North Carolina CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
JONI ERNST, Iowa RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
MIKE CRAPO, Idaho MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
LEE HOLMES, Republican Chief Counsel and Staff Director
PHILLIP A. BREST, Democratic Chief Counsel and Acting Staff Director
(II)
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
CONTENTS
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Graham, Hon. Lindsey O. ....................................................................................... 1
Feinstein, Hon. Dianne ........................................................................................... 2
Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35
WITNESSES
Carpenito, Craig ...................................................................................................... 3
Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38
Questions submitted with no response returned ........................................... 63
D’Ambrosio, Michael ................................................................................................ 7
Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 51
Responses to written questions ....................................................................... 75
Hughes, William ...................................................................................................... 2
Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38
Questions submitted with no response returned ........................................... 105
Shivers, Calvin A. .................................................................................................... 5
Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 56
Questions submitted with no response returned ........................................... 124
(III)
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
COVID–19 FRAUD: LAW ENFORCEMENT’S
RESPONSE TO THOSE
EXPLOITING THE PANDEMIC
TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2020
UNITED STATES SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:08 a.m., in Room
SD–106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lindsey O. Graham,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Graham [presiding], Grassley, Hawley, Tillis,
Ernst, Blackburn, Feinstein, Durbin, Whitehouse, Klobuchar,
Blumenthal, Hirono, and Booker.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LINDSEY O. GRAHAM,
A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Chairman GRAHAM. Good morning, everybody. Thank you very
much for attending the hearing, and I am sure we will have more
come in throughout the morning.
We have got four witnesses: Mr. Craig Carpenito, is that right?
U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; Bill Hughes, Associate
Deputy Attorney General; Calvin Shivers, Assistant Director of the
Criminal Investigative Division, FBI; Michael D’Ambrosio, Assist-
ant Director of the Office of Investigations, United States Secret
Service.
So we talked about this before, fraud related to the CARES Act,
scams out there against seniors selling masks that don’t work, try-
ing to play on people’s fears. Unfortunately, when you try to do
some good in the country, people take advantage of it, and we are
going to hear from our folks today about what’s going on out there
and some ideas about how to make sure it stops, if we can.
Phase 4 will be coming. There’s a need, in my view, for a Phase
4, so I would like to learn as much as we can about the Paycheck
Protection Program, the economic impact for individuals, and sup-
plemental unemployment benefits, how those programs are some-
times being abused, and generally about what people are doing out
there to scam Americans, particularly our seniors, and that’s the
purpose of the hearing.
And, with that, I will turn it over to Senator Feinstein.
(1)
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
2
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DIANNE FEINSTEIN,
A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will put my
statement in the record so you can proceed. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ranking Member Feinstein appears
as a submission for the record.]
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you.
Anything from anybody?
[No response.]
Chairman GRAHAM. Okay. Let us start with Mr. Hughes.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM HUGHES, ASSOCIATE DEPUTY AT-
TORNEY GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASH-
INGTON, DC
Mr. HUGHES. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
Feinstein, and Members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting
me to appear before you today with several of my colleagues to dis-
cuss Federal law enforcement efforts to deter, detect, and prosecute
those who violate Federal law by exploiting the COVID–19 pan-
demic and the economic dislocation it has caused.
Before I focus on the topic of the day, I want to take a moment
to address the tragic killing of George Floyd. As Attorney General
Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rosen have previously said, the
video images of the police conduct in this instance are incredibly
disturbing. As the Attorney General previously announced, the De-
partment is conducting a parallel and independent investigation
into this incident in collaboration with the FBI to determine wheth-
er Federal civil rights laws were violated. We intend to conduct
that investigation as swiftly as possible and are not sparing any re-
sources.
We know that George Floyd’s death was not the first of its kind,
and it exposes concerns that reach far beyond this specific incident.
The outrage that Mr. Floyd’s death has triggered is real, legiti-
mate, and deeply rooted. While the vast majority of police officers
do their job honorably and in accordance with the law, we see in-
stances like this one that erode confidence in the American crimi-
nal justice system. America takes great pride in the rule of law
being a bedrock principle, and as the Nation’s leading Federal law
enforcement agency, the Department of Justice is committed to
doing its part to seek justice for Mr. Floyd and his loved ones and
to secure the confidence of all Americans and law enforcement.
I know these issues are important to you. They are important to
us. We welcome the opportunity to have discussions on this subject
in the days ahead. But for today, for this hearing, our subject is
the pandemic, the related economic disruption, and those that wish
to exploit others for their own gain during tremendously chal-
lenging times. The Attorney General has made clear that, notwith-
standing the operational challenges the pandemic presents, it is
critical that the Department is vigilant in detecting, investigating,
and prosecuting wrongdoing relating to the crisis. It has become a
high priority for us.
Since the early days of the pandemic, we have been receiving re-
ports of individuals and businesses using the crisis as an oppor-
tunity to exploit both Americans and Government programs de-
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
3
signed to assist Americans that have been hard hit. Leveraging the
public’s concern about the pandemic, fraudsters utilize many
schemes to separate Americans from the money in their bank ac-
counts, from their Government benefits, and from their personally
identifiable information.
Other fraudsters and unscrupulous opportunists have gotten into
the personal protective equipment trade, looking to defraud and
price gouge health providers, first responders, and other essential
workers who have no choice but to pay astronomical prices for pro-
tective equipment that their health depends on.
We are also seeing schemes that target taxpayer-backed relief
programs that provide Americans and American businesses finan-
cial help as they weather a disrupted economy. In particular,
fraudsters are targeting the Payroll Protection Program, the Eco-
nomic Impact Payment Program, and State unemployment benefit
programs.
The pandemic has also changed the cyber threat landscape. Child
predators on the internet see widespread closing of schools, stay-
at-home orders, and reliance on internet platforms as the primary
means of communication as an opportunity to prey on children.
Cyber criminals also see the widespread work-from-home posture of
many American businesses as an opportunity to attack and infil-
trate business computer networks, to disable systems or steal or
hold hostage valuable data.
As I am sure you will agree, it is reprehensible that anyone
would use this crisis as an opportunity to profit at another person’s
expense or otherwise prey on the public. The Department of Justice
will not tolerate it, and our resolve is demonstrated by our efforts
to coordinate across Department offices and components, to collabo-
rate with other Government agencies, and to engage with industry
and the public.
We are already bringing cases to hold fraudsters accountable and
to disrupt their schemes, and we will be doing so for the foresee-
able future.
I thank you again for the invitation, and I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Carpenito ap-
pears as a submission for the record.]
STATEMENT OF HON. CRAIG CARPENITO, UNITED STATES AT-
TORNEY, DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE, NEWARK, NJ
Mr. CARPENITO. Good morning, Chairman Graham, Ranking
Member Feinstein, and Members of the Committee. I am Craig
Carpenito, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jer-
sey. I was appointed by Attorney General Barr to lead the Depart-
ment’s Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force. We are grateful for
the privilege of appearing before you today to discuss the Depart-
ment’s efforts to detect and prosecute those who, for their personal
financial gain, seek to exploit the COVID–19 pandemic and the eco-
nomic dislocation it has caused.
The Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General are lead-
ing those efforts, and we are honored to help them in that vital
task. We want to thank the Committee for its attention to these
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
4
issues and for the good work of the Department of Justice to pro-
tect the safety and security of our Nation during this unprece-
dented crisis.
Before I answer your questions today about price gouging, hoard-
ing, and COVID–19 fraud, however, I would like to take a moment
to acknowledge the senseless and tragic death of George Floyd at
the hands of the Minneapolis police. I am proud of the people of
New Jersey who have raised their voices in peaceful protest, seek-
ing justice and reform in the name of Mr. Floyd and the other vic-
tims like him. I hear and appreciate their call for change. In New
Jersey, we have witnessed productive community and law enforce-
ment partnerships in cities like Newark and Camden. These part-
nerships have lowered crime and restored trust. While we in New
Jersey are proud of these efforts, we recognize that we must and
we will do more.
Now let me turn to the reason I am here today. We’ve seen a
broad range of illegal conduct throughout the country in these past
few months. Our strategies and responses have evolved to meet
new challenges as they arise, but our core philosophy has not. The
Department will investigate and prosecute those who seek to treat
COVID–19 as an opportunity to defraud the public and the Govern-
ment.
The Department has received many reports of individuals and
businesses using the crisis to seek windfall profits at the expense
of public safety and the health and welfare of the American people.
These reports range from the sale of fake cures of COVID–19 on-
line to hoarding and price gouging of critical medical supplies, to
defrauding the CARES Act economic programs. The Department is
aggressively investigating those reports and has already com-
menced prosecutions.
The Department’s attorneys work side by side with our partners
at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Se-
cret Service, as well as other Federal, State, and local agency part-
ners.
Make no mistake. The fight against COVID–19 is a fight to save
precious lives every day. Our medical professionals and first re-
sponders put their own lives at risk to stand between the virus and
each of us. The personal protective equipment that they wear is the
only shield they have to protect themselves as they bravely go face
to face with the virus each day. It helps ensure our heroes do not
fall victim to the disease. It also helps ensure that they do not
bring it home to their families and their broader communities.
Hoarding and price gouging in particular have inhibited front-
line health care professionals, essential workers, and the public
from acquiring the supplies they need to protect themselves from
contracting the virus. Hospitals, first responders, and retail con-
sumers have been targeted by individuals who view the scarcity of
critical medical materials as a path to get rich quick. This conduct
has disrupted our supply chains and markets and jeopardized the
safety of our communities.
In response, Attorney General Barr and Deputy Attorney Gen-
eral Rosen assembled the Department’s Hoarding and Price
Gouging Task Force to combat and prevent hoarding and price
gouging. The task force is comprised of over 100 experienced Fed-
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
5
eral prosecutors throughout the Nation’s 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices
and Department components here in Washington. The task force’s
primary mission is to identify, investigate, and prosecute illegal
hoarding and price gouging of crucial medical supplies, including
personal protective equipment such as face masks that are essen-
tial to preventing the spread of the virus. We do so in the larger
context of the current public health crisis. The decisions the De-
partment makes to open investigations or to bring charges are in-
tended to help the public health response. Accordingly, the task
force is focusing on profiteering, especially by market participants
who sell scarce materials for excessive prices that far exceed their
reasonable cost.
The task force also is investigating counterfeit, misbranded, and
defective medical supplies imported into the U.S. from abroad.
These flawed products are entering our stream of commerce and
creating safety hazards. We will use all of our tools at our disposal
to identify these products and those who transact in them here and
abroad and hold them accountable.
The Department’s efforts are ongoing, but they have already
yielded substantial results. We have brought several Federal crimi-
nal cases across the country alleging price gouging fraud, mis-
branding, and other charges. Just last week, the task force com-
menced the Department’s first criminal prosecution against a for-
eign manufacturer for sending defective and misbranded N95 res-
pirator masks into the United States during the pandemic. Instead
of protecting our medical professionals, these materials would’ve si-
lently put them in harm’s way. We have also seized hoarded mate-
rials and worked with agency partners to distribute them to those
on the front lines to fight COVID–19.
Thank you again for inviting us to address these important top-
ics, and I look forward to answering your answers.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Carpenito and Mr. Hughes ap-
pears as a submission for the record.]
Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. Shivers.
STATEMENT OF CALVIN A. SHIVERS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR,
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION, FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. SHIVERS. Good morning, Chairman Graham, Ranking Mem-
ber Feinstein, and Members of the Committee. My name is Calvin
Shivers, and I am the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal In-
vestigative Division. Thank you for the opportunity to appear be-
fore you today to discuss the FBI’s response to COVID–19-related
fraud.
As head of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, I oversee
the FBI’s financial crimes and fraud against the Government pro-
grams. In my role as the Assistant Director of the Criminal Divi-
sion, I also oversee civil rights, color of law, and hate crime inves-
tigations. I believe it’s important that I take a moment to address
the recent events which have grabbed our Nation’s attention before
I focus on the issues surrounding today’s hearing.
I along with my colleagues at the FBI offer our sincerest condo-
lences to the family and friends of George Floyd. The FBI’s Civil
Rights Program has a long and proud history of protecting the
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
6
rights of the American people. As the primary Federal agency re-
sponsible for civil rights investigations, we at the FBI are com-
mitted to utilizing our full set of investigative and intelligence ca-
pabilities to address violations of Federal civil rights laws. In pur-
suit of justice, we are conducting a thorough investigation into the
actions that led to George Floyd’s death.
The FBI recognizes the rights of citizens to exercise their First
Amendment rights, and we will continue to work to protect our citi-
zens and their ability to exercise those rights free of violence.
Now I will shift back to the topic at hand.
These are unprecedented times for most Americans. Due to
COVID–19, people are understandably worried about their health
and their livelihood. Although we are coming together in various
communities and throughout the country, unfortunately there are
individuals who seek to exploit our anxieties and fears by selling
fake COVID–19 cures or vaccines. They are also peddling fraudu-
lent investment opportunities in companies purportedly working to
develop cures or vaccines for COVID–19. These were some of the
earliest COVID–19 fraud schemes that the FBI identified.
When the Attorney General issued a memorandum on March 16
of this year directing U.S. Attorneys to prioritize COVID–19-re-
lated fraud investigations and prosecutions, the FBI was ready.
Within days, all 56 FBI field offices began working a wide range
of investigations related to COVID–19 fraud schemes.
As we began our investigations, we saw a number of different
criminal schemes. We saw subjects hoarding personal protective
equipment, or PPE, and attempting to sell it at exorbitant prices.
We also saw people selling counterfeit or substandard PPE. The
FBI worked closely with the Department of Justice and other law
enforcement partners to conduct price-gouging investigations or
seize counterfeit PPE.
The CARES Act was designed to provide fast and direct economic
assistance to families, American workers, and small businesses.
However, there are individuals who seek to steal money from the
people the CARES Act was designed to help. With the passage of
the CARES Act, we began to see fraudsters shift their efforts to-
ward exploiting the various programs created to relieve the severe
economic effects of COVID–19. To effectively target this growing
threat, the FBI formed a Payroll Protection Program Fraud Work-
ing Group in coordination with the Department of Justice’s Fraud
Section and the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector
General. Through this effort, 116 investigations have been initi-
ated, and over $126 million in potential fraud has been identified.
We’re also beginning to see health care fraud. We are seeing
fraudulent billing for services not received, charges for unnecessary
procedures, and fraud related to telemedicine.
In addition to fraud schemes, we are seeing crimes targeting our
children. School closures have increased the presence of children
online. In addition, social distancing restrictions and the isolation
of children at home may afford criminal actors with an opportunity
to sexually exploit vulnerable children. We are proactively coun-
tering this threat through active investigations. We’re also working
to educate the public regarding the warning signs and the danger
of online sexual exploitation.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
7
Although these threats are numerous and evolving rapidly, the
FBI has and will continue to be vigilant in addressing these crimes
and holding the individuals who commit these crimes accountable.
We rely heavily on public education and awareness. When the gen-
eral public is made aware of fraudulent schemes and criminal ac-
tivity, they are better situated to report them. For that reason, I
am incredibly appreciative of the opportunity to speak with you
today.
I thank you, Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein,
for bringing attention to these issues, and I am happy to answer
any questions you might have. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Shivers appears as a submission
for the record.]
Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. D’Ambrosio.
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL D’AMBROSIO, ASSISTANT DIREC-
TOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. Thank you, Chairman Graham, Ranking Mem-
ber Feinstein, and distinguished Members of this Committee. Be-
fore I begin, like my colleagues, I’d like to express my deep sadness
and frustration with the tragic events of recent weeks. Having
served in Government for nearly 29 years, nothing troubles me
more than police misconduct. It severely erodes the essential trust
necessary for law enforcement to effectively protect and serve our
communities. Law enforcement must be held to the highest stand-
ard. Racism and discrimination in any form is totally unacceptable.
The Secret Service is committed and, indeed, oath-bound to ensur-
ing that all Americans are afforded their constitutional rights to
equal treatment under the law and to freedom of speech and as-
sembly. Those rights are inalienable, and no duty is higher for a
law enforcement officer than to protect them.
Returning to the subject of this hearing, thank you all for invit-
ing me to speak about the current wave of COVID–19-related crime
and the work of the United States Secret Service to counter it.
As early as February of this year, the Secret Service identified
individuals and groups seeking to exploit the pandemic for illicit
profit. We quickly took action to build the capacity and strategy
necessary to combat what we anticipated would be a surge of crimi-
nal activity.
Major disasters have long invited fraud. From the terrorist at-
tacks on 9/11 to Hurricanes Katrina and Maria and, indeed, well
before, criminals throughout history have viewed public emer-
gencies as opportunities to defraud the public. However, the fraud
associated with the current COVID–19 pandemic presents a scale
and scope of risks we have not seen before. Enabled by the inter-
net, criminals all over the world are defrauding anxious citizens,
distressed businesses, and Government stimulus programs alike.
Since we released our first alert on March 4, we have observed
a significant proliferation of criminal schemes. In particular, we
have seen a surge in crimes targeting various economic relief pro-
grams such as those provided by the CARES Act. Countering this
fraud has become a core focus of our investigative work, and I ex-
pect our investigative efforts will continue for years.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
8
The Secret Service, in addition to our protective mission, is re-
sponsible for the investigation of criminal violations of U.S. law
pertaining to the U.S. financial system. As the Assistant Director
of the Office of Investigations, I lead the over 160 field offices of
the Secret Service, which includes our network of Electronic and
Financial Crimes Task Forces, which conduct specialized investiga-
tions of cyber and financial crimes.
The immediate investigative focus of the Secret Service is to dis-
rupt and deter criminal activity that could hinder an effective re-
sponse to the pandemic by assisting organizations at risk of fraud
and by working to recover any funds stolen from Americans.
Longer term, we will ensure that those who have criminally ex-
ploited this crisis are arrested and successfully prosecuted.
I am pleased to report that the Secret Service has already seen
tremendous success emerge from our investigative efforts to date.
We have initiated over 100 criminal investigations and prevented
approximately $1 billion in fraud losses. Among other law enforce-
ment actions, the Secret Service has successfully disrupted hun-
dreds of online COVID–19-related scams, halted the illicit sale of
stolen COVID–19 test kits online, and is leading a nationwide ef-
fort to counter a vast international scheme to defraud U.S. State
unemployment systems. We have also released regular threat intel-
ligence and alerts to provide industry, consumers, and our law en-
forcement partners with best practices to defend themselves from
the latest criminal threats.
However, we are not achieving these results by ourselves. We
can credit much of our success to the close partnerships we have
built with a range of Government and industry partners. In par-
ticular, we are working closely with the various agencies of the De-
partment of Treasury, with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency and Homeland Security Investigations, as well as
various offices of the Inspector General, particularly from the De-
partment of Labor and Small Business Administration. And, of
course, my colleagues to the right within the Department of Jus-
tice, their COVID–19 Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation have all been essential partners.
I am committed to ensuring the Secret Service is doing our part
on behalf of the American people to counter criminal activity ex-
ploiting this pandemic. I look forward to answering your questions
on how we can work together to address this threat.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. D’Ambrosio appears as a submis-
sion for the record.]
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you all.
I will start with the Secret Service. Can you give me some exam-
ples of how people are taking advantage of the Paycheck Protection
Program?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. We primarily right now are focused on the un-
employment insurance.
Chairman GRAHAM. Okay. I am sorry. Tell me about unemploy-
ment.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. So right now it is a mainly stolen identity theft
investigation in which criminals are utilizing stolen PII, things
that they have acquired on whether it be the dark web, whether
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
9
it be network intrusions, and they are using that stolen informa-
tion to apply for Social Security benefits, and probably across right
now about 29 States across the country that we have seen. It’s not
a very complex fraud. It’s the availability of PII out in public——
Chairman GRAHAM. Got you.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO [continuing]. That allows for this to occur.
Chairman GRAHAM. Is there anything this Committee can do to
help you in this endeavor? Do you have all the tools you need in
current law?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. We have the tools right now that we need for
this particular——
Chairman GRAHAM. Do you have the resources?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO [continuing]. We have the resources with the
partnerships that we’ve created, whether it be the——
Chairman GRAHAM. Okay.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. The Department of Labor as well as the——
Chairman GRAHAM. The answer is yes, right? Okay.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO [continuing.] The answer is yes.
Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. Shivers, I appreciate what you all are
doing at the FBI. When it comes to consumer fraud, what are you
seeing most of?
Mr. SHIVERS. Sir, on the consumer fraud——
Chairman GRAHAM. Your mic, please. Thank you.
Mr. SHIVERS [continuing]. All right. So as I mentioned in my
opening, on the consumer fraud, initially private citizens were tar-
geted through a number of schemes. Many of those schemes in-
cluded offers to sell counterfeit COVID–19 cures or vaccines and,
as I mentioned in the opening, also investment opportunities. And
so what we see is a wide range of citizens being targeted through
a number of means——
Chairman GRAHAM. Is that problem getting better or worse, or
is it about the same?
Mr. SHIVERS [continuing]. I think COVID–19 obviously has
shined a light on an opportunity for criminals to take advantage
of a specific type of scheme, and so what we see is a number of
ways that they are reaching individuals, through unsolicited phone
calls or through unsolicited emails. So there’s a wide range. And
what we ask the public to do is to make reports to ic3.gov, and that
gives us greater visibility on the nature of threats and the num-
ber——
Chairman GRAHAM. Is there anything the Committee can do to—
do you have the tools you need to deal with the problem?
Mr. SHIVERS [continuing.] We do, sir.
Chairman GRAHAM. Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Carpenetti—is that right?
Mr. CARPENITO. Carpenito, sir.
Chairman GRAHAM. Carpenito. I am sorry. Tell us about the
fraudulent sales going on out there. What’s going on in terms of
overseas activity?
Mr. CARPENITO. So what we have been seeing, sir, with regards
to hoarding and price gouging is the trends have indicated to us
that initially what we had was fraud relating to a spike in the
prices of the materials. In this country we essentially had a supply
chain that consisted of six major suppliers of these masks, the N95
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
10
masks, three-ply masks just like these, that were a commoditized
product that were sold at relatively cheap prices, pennies, to our
first responders and our medical professionals. They were easy to
obtain, and they were something that I think were taken for grant-
ed as part of our system.
What happened was, just like any scenario we’ve seen in our
country’s history, where we have a national crisis, there is always
going to be that dark underbelly that rises to the top and tries to
profit illicitly from the fears of folks that are most impacted by the
pandemic. And what happened here was a bunch of interlopers in
the market came in, obtained mass quantities of these materials,
and held onto them, raised the prices, and price gouged. These
masks went from being 50, 60 cents apiece to selling for $7, $8, as
high as $25 in some cases.
What we’ve done is we’ve gotten the word out about the invoca-
tion of the Defense Production Act, the fact that it makes it illegal
to do that, to price gouge, and we’ve opened up a series of inves-
tigations. So we’ve been getting out there to try and find any stock-
piles if they exist and get that material back into the supply chain.
Chairman GRAHAM. Do you have the tools you need to continue
down this path?
Mr. CARPENITO. We do, sir. The Defense Production Act gives us
the ability to bring this conduct to light and to remedy it.
Chairman GRAHAM. Mr. Shivers, very quickly, can you tell us a
little bit about the Paycheck Protection Program? What kind of
problems have you seen there?
Mr. SHIVERS. Yes, what we’ve seen are fraudulent filings from in-
dividuals who are either exaggerating the number of employees
that they may have within their business or perhaps they don’t
have any employees. And so what they are doing is taking advan-
tage of——
Chairman GRAHAM. How do you find out about these cases?
Mr. SHIVERS [continuing.] It’s a wide range. Part of it is outreach
that the FBI conducts with the banking sector and with the private
sector. And one of the things that we do is we’ve formed relation-
ships with financial institutions and provided them with training,
having an idea of what to look for, some of the fraud indicators.
So part of it’s a relationship.
The other part of that relationship is with the Small Business
Administration’s Office of Inspector General, and so through coordi-
nation with SBA’s OIG, we are also receiving information that
helps us open cases.
Chairman GRAHAM. Okay. Mr. Hughes, finally—and I am sorry
to go over here—we are looking at a Phase 4, and I’m sure we will
do one. If you could get back to the Committee—you don’t have to
do it now in 30 seconds, but if there is anything you don’t have in
terms of being able to deal with this, let us know. If you need more
resources, let us know. But, generally speaking, how do we stand?
Do you have the resources and tools necessary to oversee these pro-
grams at this point in time?
Mr. HUGHES. I think the answer is yes, and, Chairman Graham,
we really appreciate the Committee’s support. There are a number
of legislative proposals that have been in discussion, one of which
is increasing deterrence by increasing sentencing guidelines for
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
11
fraud committed during national emergencies. We look forward to
continuing to discuss that——
Chairman GRAHAM. Well, you give us a list of things you think
would help.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Feinstein.
Senator FEINSTEIN. In my 26 years on this Committee, Mr.
Chairman, I’ve never seen anything quite like this. If I understand
it, the Federal Trade Commission has reported that, as of June 7,
consumers have lost nearly $48 million due to coronavirus-related
fraud. And this includes scam offers for vaccines, test kits, cures,
air filters that were falsely advertised. That there’s been unaccept-
able price gouging on basic items like hand sanitizer, sophisticated
schemes targeting State governments.
I understand in Washington State, for example, criminals used
stolen personal information to file fraudulent unemployment
claims. And it goes on and on.
And then you have the Nigerian fraud ring known as Scattered
Canary that’s used personal information likely obtained through
prior consumer data breaches to fraudulently obtain millions of dol-
lars. And it’s bizarre.
Why is this so unique to have all of this? What is there in this
program that attracts this kind of fraud effort?
Mr. HUGHES. Thank you, Senator, for your question. I think
there are two things going on here. One, you have a pandemic
which is rightfully a major concern and basically every American’s
life—there is a lot unknown still about COVID–19. And you also
have an economic disruption which rightfully sparked serious re-
sponse from the Federal Government in the way of economic relief.
And so those two events simultaneously created a situation where
you have many consumers out there who are anxious about their
own health——
Senator FEINSTEIN. But you’re so broad-based in your comments.
Nothing is specific. Let me ask you a specific. Apparently, Wash-
ington State was able to recover the $300 million that it had paid
for fraudulent claims related to one scheme. What other big fraud
cases are out there? And what is being done to stop it?
Mr. HUGHES [continuing.] We are doing several things. First is
that we have hundreds of investigations open all over the Depart-
ment of Justice. We’re working with every single law enforcement
agency in the executive branch. We are pursuing separate courses,
investigations, monitoring trends about the criminal conduct re-
garding each one of these programs. And some of the cases——
Senator FEINSTEIN. Well, talk to me for a minute about Scattered
Canary, this Nigerian fraud ring.
Mr. HUGHES [continuing.] So, Senator, I am unable to discuss the
specifics of any particular matter or any particular potential target.
What I will say is that, especially with respect to unemployment
benefits fraud, there is strong indication that some of the perpetra-
tors are overseas entities or organizations and that they’re using
money mules and other standard mechanisms to transfer money
outside of the country.
Senator FEINSTEIN. Is this a Nigerian fraud ring? Is Scattered
Canary a Nigerian fraud ring?
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
12
Mr. HUGHES. So, Senator, I am not personally knowledgeable as
to that organization. I am happy to take that——
Chairman GRAHAM. Does anybody know about this?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. Yes, Senator.
Chairman GRAHAM. Well, tell us about it.
Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. There has been some reporting on Scattered
Canary being Nigerian, but I have no specific information to con-
firm those particular activities.
Senator FEINSTEIN. Could you tell us what you know?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. What I do know is that the fraud, again, as you
stated, Senator, is essentially stolen PII that is out already in pub-
lic or whether it’s particularly bought off the dark web for these
particular crimes, and then they’re utilized to file fraudulent unem-
ployment insurance claims. And that money has been seen
transiting through money mules, as has already been said.
Senator FEINSTEIN. Well, have these consumer data breaches
fraudulently obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in unemploy-
ment benefits from State governments? Could you gentlemen an-
swer the question yes or no?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. I can’t answer the exact amount, Senator, that
has been obtained. I can tell you that the Secret Service, based on
an alert that we published in late May, the information that we re-
ceived back from working with over 100 financial institutions, that
it mitigated the loss of about $500 million in payments. And so
that’s anecdotal information that we’ve received from the financial
institutions.
Senator FEINSTEIN. So how did Washington State recover the
$300 million that it had paid in fraudulent claims related to one
of these schemes? Can anybody answer that question?
Mr. HUGHES. Senator, I don’t think we have that information at
our fingertips. We can take it back and discuss with our colleagues.
Senator FEINSTEIN. Because, you know, I’ve been here for a
while, and, Mr. Chairman, I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a
program riddled with fraud.
Chairman GRAHAM. Well, here’s what I believe. If you put $3 tril-
lion out there, people will take advantage of it. And we had to do
it. And I’ll share your frustration. It’s been a lot of generalities
here. We would like to know what can we do, what’s going on,
who’s doing it, and how widespread is it.
Senator FEINSTEIN. That’s right.
And could any of you gentlemen summarize what is going on and
what it’s going to take to stop it?
Mr. HUGHES. Senator, that’s an incredibly broad question. If you
are talking just about CARES Act fraud, there is targeting of the
Payroll Protection Program by fraudsters misrepresenting their
small business or the characteristics of their small business or mis-
representing that there is a small business at all. There are
fraudsters who are using PII that they’ve accumulated or bought
on the internet to apply for unemployment benefit programs that
are State-sponsored. And there are a number of schemes relating
to economic impact payments, again, relying on PII to apply for
these payments or to defraud recipients of those payments, to hand
those over to the fraudsters.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
13
Senator FEINSTEIN. Well, let me ask you this. The FTC reported
that as of June 7 consumers have lost nearly $48 million due to
coronavirus-related fraud, and that includes scams for vaccines,
test kits, miracle cures, air filters that were falsely advertised as
capable of removing COVID–19 from the air in people’s homes.
So there’re all these fraudulent business practices out there, ap-
parently. What is being done to stop them, to arrest and convict?
Mr. HUGHES. I think we’re vigorously investigating and using the
tools that we have, both criminal and civil. When you bring a pros-
ecution, you have forfeiture powers should there be a guilty plea
and or a verdict at trial of guilty. On the civil side, you have a
number of different statutes which allow you to to make the
fraudster forfeit his ill-gotten gains. In order to disrupt, we have
a statute that allows us to seek a TRO, a preliminary injunction,
and ultimately an injunction. That is a quicker solution to stopping
some of these schemes, many of which involve an online website
which is the major marketing mechanism of some of these
fraudsters.
Senator FEINSTEIN. The information I have before me I’ve never
had before me in any program in 26 years, and I wonder if it’s
worth continuing. How do you stop this fraud?
Mr. CARPENITO. So, Senator, maybe I can help respond by what
the Department of Justice has done to try and police these pro-
grams.
First, I can tell you——
Senator FEINSTEIN. Could you indicate to us how many cases
have been brought, convictions sought, and convictions obtained?
Mr. CARPENITO [continuing.] What I can tell you is we’ve re-
ceived thousands of referrals through the network of task forces
that have been put up. Right away, right when the pandemic came
to be, Attorney General Barr I think showed very swift leadership
in forming two task forces specific to COVID–19—one relating to
general fraud related to COVID–19; the other, my task force, relat-
ing to the hoarding and price gouging, which was meant to stand
up very quickly to try and get the valuable PPE to the individuals
who needed it as quickly as possible.
Those programs each have approximately 100 prosecutors in
each of them that are focusing on the COVID-related crime. It
takes some time to work a white-collar case, and it has to be done
covertly because we don’t want to do anything to disrupt the net-
work of criminals before we can get a hold of where the money is,
we can trace everything, especially for overseas cases. So we’re
working them expeditiously.
I can tell you there are hundreds of investigations in my task
force alone and thousands nationally related to COVID fraud in
general. We’ve also formed partnerships with our State Attorney
Generals to share information. Sharing information in white-collar
cases like this is critical to being able to get to the money, because
at the end of the day that’s what this is about. We want to prevent
individuals from sending payments or from having their bank ac-
counts pillaged. We want to prevent Government programs from
the same. And where it’s already happened, we need to cooperate
with law enforcement to work with financial institutions to trace
those transactions.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
14
And I know it can be frustrating at times that we can’t get into
specifics, but one of the reasons we can’t is, you know, our network
operates through the ability to stay covert and find these resources,
this money. Before we pounce and we go into court and go public
on it, we have to have everything locked down if we are going to
be successful.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Feinstein, we will have a Round 2,
but I think, Senator Grassley, you are next, sir.
Senator GRASSLEY. Thank you.
I’ve heard thus far that you’ve got the resources you need and
you’ve got the tools that you need. I hope that that is right. Time
will tell. If that’s true, that’s very nice.
I want to start out with a compliment to the Justice Department
in some things that are related to the pandemic and some things
that might not be related. But I want to compliment the people
that have filed price-fixing suits against Pilgrim’s Pride and
Claxton Poultry, because I’ve always felt there is not enough com-
petition in the agriculture industry. And also last week, the De-
partment of Justice announced that it had issued what they refer
to as ‘‘civil investigative demands’’ to the Nation’s four largest
meatpackers, and those four largest ones have about 80 percent of
all the packing industry and slaughter industry in the country as
a whole. And there’s plenty of reason to believe that there might
not be things right there. When a month ago the price of beef to
the farmer went down about 60 percent, the price to the consumer
went up about 25 percent.
I sent a letter on March 31 to the secretary or to General Barr,
and I’ve done that over a period of 20 years under both Republican
and Democrat administrations, hardly getting any results whatso-
ever. So you can imagine how surprised I am but thankful for this
Administration taking those moves to make sure that the market-
place is working in that industry, because farmers are very de-
pressed by some of the things that are happening in that industry.
So let me go to questions. On April the 7, Senator Klobuchar and
I sent a letter to the Attorney General Barr expressing our serious
concern about price gouging and hoarding of essential medical sup-
plies. We asked for information from the Department’s implemen-
tation and enforcement of the President’s Executive order. We’ve
not received a response from the Justice Department, so I hope
we’ll get it soon. It’s important that Congress have this data as we
figure out how to best address the problems we face.
We appreciate when agencies are quick to share information with
us on our requests for that information. For example, the Secret
Service has been very good about giving us periodic updates on the
COVID–19-related fraud efforts. I encourage the Justice Depart-
ment and the FBI to follow that example.
So to any one of the three from the Justice Department that can
respond, can you tell me when Senator Klobuchar and I will get a
response to our April 7 letter?
Mr. HUGHES. Senator, thank you for your question. I do not know
the answer to that question. All I can assure you is that when we
receive letters, they’re reviewed, and work starts on replies prompt-
ly. Replies have to go through a rigorous process, so sometimes it
can take longer than we would all like.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
15
I defer to Mr. Carpenito on any substance that that letter was
seeking to elicit. But we have your letter, and I understand it is
being worked on, and I can check with OLA after this hearing as
to the status.
Senator GRASSLEY. Also, to anybody from the Justice Department
and/or the FBI witnesses, I am interested in what difficulties or ob-
stacles have you encountered when investigating and prosecuting
these cases.
Mr. CARPENITO. Thank you, Senator. As I said previously, thank-
fully, because of the invocation of the Defense Production Act, it
has given us the tools that we need to investigate and prosecute
price gouging. As you know, the act is what made the act of hoard-
ing with the intent to sell materials that were designated as scarce
by the Department of Health and Human Services at exponentially
higher prices than pre-pandemic prices criminal. Without that act,
we would not be able to operate.
The challenges that we have are the same challenges that you
have in any sort of a disaster relief-related fraud situation. We
faced it in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.
As Senator Graham correctly stated, when you put this kind of
money out into the ether, because you have to take care of society
and, you know, take care of those who are desperately in need of
it, the cockroaches are going to come out of the dark and into the
light. There is always some underbelly that is going to try and de-
fraud these programs.
We are using our traditional tools and our traditional partners
to root out those frauds. It takes a little bit of time, because what
you see there is there is a delay in the exposure, right? We have
to follow trends, follow the money, to be able to root it out.
With regards to hoarding and price gouging, I think that we
showed a very aggressive stance. We brought our first prosecution
within a week of the invocation of the Defense Production Act. The
President put it into play on March 23. On March 25, HHS des-
ignated scarce materials. On April 1, we had arrested the first per-
son for selling exponentially higher priced PPE. The charges we
filed there were for making false statements to the FBI, because
he was trying to hide his conduct, and assaulting a Federal officer,
because the individual coughed in the face of the FBI agents who
were looking to interview him and told them he had COVID–19 to
back them away from him. But we were able to recover close to a
million pieces of PPE and distribute them within 48 hours to front-
line medical professionals.
Senator GRASSLEY. Could I ask one more question?
Chairman GRAHAM. Go ahead.
Senator GRASSLEY. I do not know which one of you can answer
this, but I believe that China’s decision to halt exports allowed
criminals to sell fake and faulty goods to our hospitals, putting the
health and safety of our workers at serious risk. Is it reasonable
to believe that the increase in fake and faulty medical supplies
were a direct result of China’s decision to stop exports to the med-
ical—of medical supplies? And if not, why not? Whichever one of
you can answer that.
Mr. CARPENITO. Sure. I will take that question, Senator. So, Sen-
ator, we can’t talk about any of our investigations that are non-
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
16
public. What I can tell you is if you—I do not know if you noticed,
but on Friday we filed a criminal complaint against a Chinese com-
pany for the importation of fraudulent N95 respirators. In that
case, what we allege is that a Chinese company sent to the United
States knowingly false materials. How were they false? They pur-
ported to be N95 respirators that were licensed by the FDA and by
NIOSH, which is the licensing body for these materials that make
them the most attractive to medical professionals.
The N95 respirator has been so important here because what
medical professionals say is that you need that 95 percent filtration
to protect our doctors, our nurses, our first responders from inter-
acting directly with the virus. These materials were imported into
the U.S. with the intent to sell them to medical professionals, and
when we seized them, they did not look to us as though they were
authentic materials. We worked with the FBI, the FDA, and Cus-
toms and Border Patrol. We had the materials tested. They failed
that filtration test. And we do intend to continue to investigate any
importation of fraudulent materials, and I think you can plan to
see additional cases coming in the future.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Durbin.
Senator DURBIN. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Carpenito, you talked about putting $3 trillion on the table
and watching the cockroaches come in. In your testimony you’ve
identified six six prosecutions under the PPP Act so far. Four and
a half million loans have been issued so far.
So let me ask you, are you just getting started? Or is that it for
cockroaches? It strikes me that unless you have a pretty powerful
statement pretty early on, some of the adolescent efforts being
made to qualify for PPP loans are just going to continue apace.
Mr. HUGHES. Senator, if you do not mind, I will address the PPP.
So with that program, there are number of ways that we get refer-
rals of cases to investigate and potentially prosecute. One is just
walk-ins. As the FBI will tell you, they have field offices around
the country, and complainants will walk in saying that they’re
aware of some wrongful conduct with respect to the program.
A second source is data that we share among Federal agencies.
I can’t get into more specifics on that.
Senator DURBIN. I have a limited amount of time. How you col-
lect it and get your leads is important, but not critical to answering
my question. Is this pace of six prosecutions after several months
and 4.5 million loans indicating you are just getting started, or this
is the pace that you think will warn America not to try to cheat
the Government?
Mr. HUGHES. I think we’re just getting started, and for the fore-
seeable future we will be bringing these cases. The limitation peri-
ods on this conduct are anywhere between 5 and 10 years. And we
are engaging extensively to ensure that the public understands the
serious consequences of exploiting this program.
Senator DURBIN. I certainly hope whatever you do, you continue
this effort, but do it more publicly with more volume, calling atten-
tion to it. This exploitation that is spelled out in your testimony of
six is almost laughable.
Mr. HUGHES. I can assure you, Senator, there are plenty of inves-
tigations currently going on.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
17
Senator DURBIN. These are not thoughtful, conniving individuals.
They’re just silly efforts to exploit the Government in the belief
that it is an easy thing to do. I mean, to invent companies, invent
payrolls—I mean that seems to me to be fairly traceable.
So let me go to another aspect. The Chairman just stepped back
in. I am glad he is here because I wanted him to hear this. When
I got briefed a few years ago by major corporations in the United
States, they told me that retail theft was so massive in this country
that products that were made exclusively by one company were
being sold in volume on the internet by sellers that went unidenti-
fied and they had to be stolen. They were only made by one com-
pany. They had to be stolen from a warehouse or in the chain of
commerce somewhere. They were being sold by the hundreds. It
wasn’t just a casual sale. And when these companies went after
this theft ring, they were stopped cold by Amazon, Facebook, and
eBay, who said, ‘‘We have no obligation to disclose the names of our
sellers. Even if they are fencing stolen goods, no obligation to dis-
close the names of our sellers.’’
You made a reference, Mr. Carpenito, to profiteering online with
marketplace platforms like Amazon and Facebook. On March 25, a
group of 34 State attorneys generals wrote to those three compa-
nies and other online marketplaces to urge them to do more to
crack down on price gouging on their platforms, including urging
the companies to create mechanisms to allow consumers to report
suspected price gouging.
The question is simple. What kind of cooperation are you getting
from Amazon, Facebook, and eBay when it comes to those who are
using the internet to sell products that are misrepresenting their
health qualities or their application in COVID–19?
Mr. CARPENITO. Thank you, Senator. I can tell you that from day
one in the formation of the task force, we engaged with private cor-
porations, including online retailers, to talk to them about what
their policies were with regards to price gouging, how they identi-
fied those instances, and sought to create a referral relationship
with those retailers.
Senator DURBIN. How are you doing?
Mr. CARPENITO. Without getting into specifics because there’s
nothing public, I can tell you that we have been cooperating and
that we have received referrals from those platforms.
Senator DURBIN. So now they are disclosing sellers when you be-
lieve that they have violated the law?
Mr. CARPENITO. Again, I feel constrained by Department policy
on talking about nonpublic investigations, but what I can tell you
is that we have had contact with them, we have engaged, and we
are working cooperatively with them on referrals.
Senator DURBIN. They stonewalled us for years on retail theft,
saying—eBay in particular—it’s none of your damned business
who’s selling what, even if it’s clearly stolen goods. And if you are
telling me we have got a breakthrough here when it comes to this
pandemic and national emergency of those who are trying to sell—
misrepresent products on the internet, that you now have the co-
operation of these sales places, these marketplaces, I think we need
to know one way or the other whether you do or don’t.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
18
Mr. CARPENITO. What I can tell you, sir, is—I don’t know if I
would use the term ‘‘breakthrough.’’ What I can tell you is that we
have had contact with these companies, we have sought their co-
operation and asked them to make any referrals of anyone who is
hoarding or price gouging the designated materials underneath the
HHS order, and we have active relationships with at least some of
the companies that you mentioned.
Senator DURBIN. Mr. Chairman, I am going to quit here. I went
a little longer than I should’ve. But let me tell you, Senator Cas-
sidy and I have introduced a bill called the ‘‘INFORM Consumers
Act,’’ and it gets to the bottom line here, that Amazon, Facebook,
eBay have to disclose to law enforcement when there is the obvious
sale in their marketplace of goods that are either stolen or being
misrepresented to the consumers of America, for example, NIOSH-
cleared products and it turns out it’s a big old lie. Some of these
places in the past would not even tell you who the sellers were.
They claimed it is confidential and private.
Chairman GRAHAM. Well, I think it is a good question, so, Mr.
Carpenito?
Mr. CARPENITO. Senator, what I can tell you——
Chairman GRAHAM. Would the bill help that he is talking about?
Is it a problem?
Mr. CARPENITO [continuing.] In my experience the Department of
Justice can use process, we can send subpoenas; we have mecha-
nisms to obtain that information, when justified, where we see in-
dications of fraud or any indications that there has been wrongful
conduct.
Senator DURBIN. This is a new development if you do, and I will
tell you, Home Depot came to me, no small company, and said,
‘‘Stolen goods with our brand, made only by us, sold on eBay in vol-
ume, and they won’t tell us who is selling it.’’ If that’s changed, this
is a breakthrough, and I——
Chairman GRAHAM. Yes, I agree. So see if you can followup.
Mr. CARPENITO [continuing.] Will do, sir. Thank you.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Tillis.
Senator TILLIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, gentle-
men, for being here and for the work you are doing.
I was actually pleased to hear you all bring up, and a number
of the Members, focusing on counterfeit, the threat of counterfeit
goods. That’s something I have focused a lot on as Chair of the In-
tellectual Property Subcommittee. This is not something new to the
COVID response. I literally saw a biking helmet that was marketed
as one of the most protective if you bought it from Specialized, it
did the job. I saw somebody just put their foot on this helmet and
it crushed before a Senate Committee. There are a lot of counterfeit
products coming from China that are clearly a threat to our public
health, and now it’s only on steroids in response to the COVID pan-
demic.
One question or a couple of questions I have. You’ve talked about
the PPEs and the N95 masks. Other personal protective equipment
is something that we have got to focus on, but I am also worried
about counterfeit medications potential when we have break-
throughs on therapeutics, counterfeit versions of those. They may
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
19
actually fit the bill, but not being distributed according to licenses.
In other cases, they may just be inadequate or ineffective.
I think the same thing, the same risk, could hold true in terms
of test kits and some of the other materials that we’re putting to-
gether for the COVID response.
Can you tell me a little bit about how we’re specifically focusing
on that and whether—my suspicion is China is the greatest threat,
but any other jurisdictions that we should be looking at?
Mr. HUGHES. Let me just address briefly pharmaceuticals and
testing, and I’ll allow Mr. Carpenito or the rest of the panel to ad-
dress PPE.
We’re working very closely with the FDA. They’ve taken a more
flexible regulatory approach to help spur innovation in the medical
device and the pharmaceutical space. The types of crimes in that
area that we are focusing on are the obvious scams, the clearly
fraudulent products or medications. We are trying to disrupt those
quickly, and largely by bringing an injunction while a criminal in-
vestigation is still going. Some of the cases that we have brought
so far stopped a scam selling ozone gas as a treatment, unregis-
tered pesticides, colloidal silver, and other treatments that were
sold and marketed as either cures for or effective prevention meas-
ures for COVID–19.
Senator TILLIS. If others of you want to chime in, is this a China
problem, or do we have other jurisdictions that we have a similar
threat in terms of counterfeit products?
Mr. HUGHES. The cases I was referring to are domestic cases, but
I will defer to Mr. Carpenito on PPE.
Mr. CARPENITO. Once again, I can tell you what we see trend-
wise, and what we see trend-wise is we have numerous investiga-
tions, and we have seen trends that there is the importation of ma-
terials that are either counterfeit, misbranded, or just completely
fraudulent. Those were the three buckets that——
Senator TILLIS. Primarily from China?
Mr. CARPENITO [continuing.] What I can tell you is that we have
one publicly available prosecution that I can talk about where we
have filed a criminal case in the Eastern District of New York
against a Chinese company that we believe intentionally sent
fraudulent materials.
Senator TILLIS. And the Chinese company is a government-
owned enterprise?
Mr. CARPENITO. I believe that is the case in China, sir.
Senator TILLIS. I want to move on to something else. I want to
keep to my time. I have a Committee markup I have to run to. But,
Mr. Shivers—right? I want to make sure I got that right. I butcher
names repeatedly here.
Mr. SHIVERS. That is correct.
Senator TILLIS. First off, I want to thank you for the work, and
I did get to listen to your testimony in my office. But can you tell
me about other things? I was talking about some of the test kits
and other things. Can you see any patterns specifically from for-
eign jurisdictions? We talked about domestic production, and that’s
important for us to look at, but foreign jurisdictions that we should
be focused on and potentially create consequences coming out of
legislation from the Senate?
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
20
Mr. SHIVERS. So our investigations are not focused on importa-
tion. We are primarily looking for hoarding and price gouging of
PPE and also counterfeit PPE. So through the course of investiga-
tion, we may discover that the PPE that we’ve seized is either sub-
standard or counterfeit.
Senator TILLIS. Okay.
Mr. SHIVERS. And so we would address it after that. So we work
with not just our Federal partners but State and local partners to
develop those investigations. And so, again, what we’ve seen is
some of the PPE that we’ve seized has been counterfeit.
Senator TILLIS. Well, I want to keep close to the time. This is
just a request. You don’t have to respond to it. But I want to thank
Senators Blumenthal, Cornyn, and Sasse who joined on a letter to
the FBI and CISA to give us a briefing on hacking. I don’t know
if you have seen that letter, but I think it would be very helpful
for us to figure out, particularly with Chinese-affiliated hackers,
some of the threats that we have there. That may be, Mr. Chair-
man, something we can do as a Committee, but if not, I know there
are a number of Senators that would like to get together and get
a briefing of the Committee on that and the threats that we should
be updated on.
Mr. SHIVERS. We can coordinate that.
Senator TILLIS. Yes, if we can get that done sooner rather than
later, I would like for the FBI and CISA to be represented in that
meeting.
Thank you.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Whitehouse.
Senator WHITEHOUSE. Thank you, Chairman. If somebody could
dial down my volume. There we go that’s how I like it.
I want to ask about unemployment insurance, but before I do, I
have to react to, Mr. Hughes, your statement about your policy for
answering letters. I do not know what is going on over at the De-
partment, but I detect a policy of not answering questions for the
record from this Committee and not answering letters from this
Committee. When we had Mr. Rosenstein down in the hot seat
there a few days ago, I pointed out that in 17, I think it was, hear-
ings with Department of Justice witnesses, not one question for the
record from a Senator was answered afterwards. Not one. That is
not a coincidence. That is a policy.
When we get questions for the record answered, it is because it
is a nomination hearing and the nominee doesn’t go forward until
the QFRs are answered. Outside of that, the policy seems to be,
‘‘We, the Department of Justice, don’t answer Committee questions
for the record.’’
I have a similar problem with letters, so I don’t believe what you
have said about there being a responsible policy for getting letters
answered. We have letter after letter after letter to DOJ and FBI
that have gone completely unanswered. We finally got a letter out
of the Antitrust Division recently by putting a hold on a piece of
legislation that the Antitrust Division wanted, and the answer we
got from the Antitrust Division was a blow-off. It was a nonsense
answer. It did not answer the actual questions.
So I would ask you to take back to the Department, what the
heck is going on? Because this exceeds the partisanship that I see
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
21
out of the Department. This is a persistent failure of response to
oversight, and it is not always going to be a Republican Attorney
General, it’s not always going to be a Republican Chairman. Some-
thing is wrong. There is a policy someplace about not answering
QFRs and not answering letters, and I am sick to death of it. So
please take that back. And I see the Chairman nodding his head
over there, so this is a bipartisan concern.
The letter that was raised was from Chairman Grassley. This is
a bipartisan concern. This is not the time to get into this. We are
going to get into this further. But somewhere there is a policy, and
I want it rooted out, because it is a wrong policy.
Now, on unemployment insurance, Mr. Shivers, in your testi-
mony, in the headings of the different elements of your testimony,
you don’t even mention unemployment insurance. It’s not one of
the topic areas. Mr. D’Ambrosio mentioned briefly unemployment
insurance in his testimony, but described it as just ‘‘simple fraud.’’
I don’t know that that is accurate, gentlemen. Just in Rhode Is-
land, we’ve had 3,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance applica-
tions. Our U.S. Attorney is looking into it after the Rhode Island
State Police began an investigation because they seemed to be co-
ordinated. The damages could be in the billions, the theft could be
in the billions of dollars. IP information links entities to common
fraudulent claims and also to fraudulent common claims in the
State of Massachusetts, in the State of Connecticut, in the State of
Washington.
I think you need to step back and take a look at this as a very
significant common scheme, very likely a foreign-led common
scheme, and take a much harder look at this unemployment insur-
ance fraud than you are appear to be undertaking from your testi-
mony here today. I think we’re dealing with what may prove to be
the crime of the decade, if not the crime of the century in terms
of the amount of money that was stolen through a common scheme,
run very likely by foreign crooks. And I would ask you also to take
the message back that it would be really helpful if the Department
of Justice and the FBI would support the bill that Treasury sup-
ports, that former Chairman Grassley and Chairman Graham sup-
port, that will peel back the ability of foreign entities to hide be-
hind shell corporations in America, because what happens, as I
think you know, is that they steal billions of dollars through these
schemes, and then they launder the proceeds through shell cor-
porations. We’ve seen it over and over and over again. The Depart-
ment, the FBI, the Secret Service have all testified about the role
of American shell corporations in hiding criminal assets. And when
you look at the extent of the theft from our States through this un-
employment insurance problem into which Federal money was
poured in abundance as part of the COVID response, I think it’s
a better bet than not that at the end of the day those proceeds of
theft end up behind shell corporations where it’s harder for you to
root them out and run them down.
So I’d be eager to have any response to the point about unem-
ployment insurance and what you’re planning to do to ramp up
your response to this.
Mr. SHIVERS. Senator, there was no ill intent in not mentioning
unemployment insurance.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
22
[Voice heard off microphone.]
Mr. SHIVERS. I’m sorry. It is on. I will pull it closer.
All right. There was no ill intent in not mentioning the unem-
ployment insurance. Just with the limited amount of time, I want-
ed to give an overview of some of——
Chairman GRAHAM. But here’s the question that’s got my inter-
est now. Three thousand, that is a lot.
Senator WHITEHOUSE [continuing.] And that is just Rhode Island.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington—there are a dozen States
that have this problem——
Chairman GRAHAM. But from the Secret Service point of
view——
Senator WHITEHOUSE [continuing.] And probably more.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Whitehouse’s question, is there or-
ganized effort in the country or outside the country to exploit this
program versus just, you know, a handful of people misidentifying
themselves? I think that is the question. What do you see from the
Secret Service point of view?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. So, Senator, first, to your first comment where
you said it is a simple fraud, that really referred to the tactics and
the techniques as opposed to the scope of this particular investiga-
tion. I can assure you that the Secret Service is looking at unem-
ployment fraud as a massive amount of fraud. We do see it as an
organized group. We do see connections when it comes to
transnational criminal activity overseas.
Chairman GRAHAM. Well, you should have said that.
Senator WHITEHOUSE. There you go. That feels better. Thank
you. Now let us make sure that these agencies respond according
to that and not to the not mentioning it or calling it just ‘‘simple
fraud,’’ because it was potentially billions of dollars in fraud.
Chairman GRAHAM. Senator Hawley.
Senator HAWLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would also be
interested in further responses to Senator Whitehouse’s questions,
and I am going to come back to that actually in just a second.
Let me start, though, by asking about the recent controversy in-
volving 37 Planned Parenthood offices applying for and receiving
funds under the Paycheck Protection Program despite their ineligi-
bility. Just a quick review of the facts here. The CARES Act states
that nonprofits are eligible for the program only if they and their
affiliate organizations have no more than 500 employees. Now,
Planned Parenthood has 16,000 employees nationwide, which is 37
times the threshold, and there is no doubt that each of the 37
Planned Parenthood offices who applied for the funds knew that
they were affiliated because their own documents claim that they
are affiliated. In fact, Planned Parenthood’s most recent financial
statement describes it as one national branch with 55 Planned Par-
enthood affiliates, 110 ancillary entities that are, and I am quoting
now, ‘‘controlled by those Planned Parenthood affiliates.’’
Despite knowing all this, 37 separate Planned Parenthood enti-
ties applied for and received and, therefore, diverted $80 million
from actual small business during this global pandemic.
So let me just ask you, Mr. Hughes—I am not going to ask you
to comment or reveal any details of any ongoing investigation, but
let me just ask you generally, if an organization that knows it is
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
23
ineligible for a program nonetheless applies, falsely certifies its eli-
gibility, and receives tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money
meant for somebody else, do we have a criminal conduct issue?
Mr. HUGHES. Thank you, Senator, for your question. And, again,
you are right, I am unable to talk about specific investigations or
the existence of specific investigations. However, the way the De-
partment is approaching these cases is the application for these
loans is pretty simple. In fact, the part you fill out is literally just
two pages. And there are a number of representations on that
about the number of employees you have and your monthly average
payroll and the nature of your business, and then there are a cou-
ple certifications such as criminal charges and convictions over the
last 5 years. I believe that is the time period.
There is some other information on there, but those inputs were
specifically designed to be objective measures that could be quickly
looked at and scrutinized for the purposes of determining whether
an applicant intentionally misrepresented something material
about their business that would allow us to proceed with charging
and prosecuting swiftly.
So we go where the facts and the law command us to go in each
of our investigations, and so this is just an area that, like unem-
ployment benefits programs, we are focusing the Department’s law
enforcement and prosecutorial resources.
Senator HAWLEY. What you are telling us is that the application
is designed to be simple, it’s designed to be very factual, right? I
mean, it’s not supposed to be a matter of interpretation. Do you
comply or not comply? Here are the standards. Tell us what the
facts are. Do you meet the threshold or not? Have I got that right?
I mean, that is the basic design of the application.
Mr. HUGHES. Generally, and it’s not an application which re-
ceives a lot—needs to receive a lot of due diligence on the part of
the lender from the beginning. Again, so really all the misrepresen-
tation, the burden of that is on the applicant.
Senator HAWLEY. What about executives of the organization or
other decisionmakers who may have known about or signed off on
any fraudulent application? When I say the organization, again, I
am not asking you to talk about any particular investigation to
confirm or deny its existence. But, in general, if you have an orga-
nization where you have top executives who’s signed off on this,
would there be potential liability for them?
Mr. HUGHES. I think the traditional the traditional legal stand-
ards that apply to corporate liability and individual liability for cor-
porate actions apply with equal force in this with respect to pros-
ecutions of this program.
Senator HAWLEY. Very good. Well, thank you for that, and I look
forward to seeing the progress of your inquiries over time.
Let me come back to the unemployment question that Senator
Whitehouse was asking about. Mr. Hughes, I will direct this to you
or Mr. D’Ambrosio. Do you have any sense of how much money has
been lost through fraud in the unemployment insurance piece of
CARES? And has DOJ had any success in recovering any of those
funds to date?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. Senator, I do not have a specific amount of
what essentially has been lost. I can tell you I spoke previously
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
24
anecdotally from some of the financial institutions that we are
working it with, over about 100 of them. We have been told that
an alert that we put out in mid-May prevented over about a $500
million fraud alone. So that just kind of gives you a sense of the
particular scope.
We have been successful in recovering some money. We have——
Senator HAWLEY. You have been, did you say?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO [continuing.] We have been. We have been suc-
cessful. We returned approximately through an investigation about
$30 million to the State of Michigan. So there are cases where this
has been—we’ve seen some success, and we are continuing to work
very diligently on these cases, one, to identify, two, to recover the
funds, and then eventually prosecute these individuals for this ac-
tivity.
Senator HAWLEY. Does anybody else have anything to add to
that?
Mr. HUGHES. Senator, the only thing I would add is that this is
a big and growing focus for the Department. We’re coordinating in
Senator Whitehouse’s district, the U.S. Attorney’s Office there, the
U.S. Attorney’s Offices in other jurisdictions including Washington,
we are coordinating closely with both the Secret Service, the FBI,
and other law enforcement. We’re also coordinating with the finan-
cial industry. As the Assistant Director noted, some of the easiest,
some of the quickest—the quickest tool is to get the financial insti-
tutions where these payments—that are the rails through which
these payments travel to identify this activity and to work with us
and State authorities to stop these payments, especially when they
are traveling overseas.
Senator HAWLEY. Very good. My time has expired. I have got
some additional questions on this front which I will submit to the
record.
Senator HAWLEY. Thank you all for your service and being here.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. Senator Klobuchar.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for holding this important hearing.
I think what we do know from this pandemic is that this has
brought out the best in so many people that put themselves on the
front lines, but it also has brought out the worst in terms of the
kinds of scams that we are talking about today.
Senator Grassley has already mentioned the letter that he and
I led back in April, April 7, and we are still, Mr. Carpenito, waiting
for an answer to that. And if you could—that’s a long time—convey
that, I’ll just ask some of the questions, because we are concerned
about what is happening and what investigations have actually
been opened. How many investigations has the task force opened?
Mr. CARPENITO. With regards to hoarding and price gouging, we
have opened several hundred investigations that are ongoing.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. And has the task force brought charges
against violators—in how many cases?
Mr. CARPENITO. With regards to hoarding and price gouging, the
task force has already filed eight criminal cases.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. All right. And there are 100 lawyers
assigned? Is that right?
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
25
Mr. CARPENITO. The way the task force is structured is I lead the
task force with the assistance of Mr. Hughes. We have three re-
gional coordinators—one for the West out of the L.A. U.S. Attor-
ney’s Office, one in the Central out of the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s
Office, and one for the East out of my office. Each U.S. Attorney’s
Office has one representative at least. As obviously—as some dis-
trict are busier than others, there are additional lawyers working
on it. And each of the Department components also has a rep-
resentative.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. Are they full-time then, the 100 law-
yers?
Mr. CARPENITO. I would not say they are full-time. Some of them
are. For example, in the early stages——
Senator KLOBUCHAR [continuing.] That is Okay. I have a lot of
other questions. If we got this back in writing, we could figure it
out. Again, we’re just trying to push for some actual results here.
Another way to do this, in addition to what you are doing, State
Attorney Generals, as you know, are doing a lot. Attorney General
Ellison and I have done some work together on this since the pan-
demic started. And are you coordinating with them on the price
gouging?
Mr. CARPENITO. We have encouraged all of the members of the
task force in each of the 93 U.S. Attorney’s Office and components
to coordinate. I can tell you personally in New Jersey we have a
very good working relationship with State Attorney General Gurbir
Grewal. We have formed a joint task force with the State Attorney
General. I know some other districts have done that as well. And
we have had virtual daily contact about referrals, and we’ve
worked on cases and decided which cases fit more with the State’s
purview or the Federal Government’s.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. Your testimony indicated that the
Department focuses on sellers charging ‘‘substantially higher prices
than traditional market participants.’’ I have a bill that I intro-
duced, and cosponsoring that bill are Senators Blumenthal, Hirono,
and Cortez Masto, and it would prohibit price gouging during na-
tional emergencies and targets price increases of more than 20 per-
cent above the pre-emergency services. And States with these kind
of price-gouging laws have saved targets of 10 to 25 percent. Is
there a set amount or is there a minimum amount you are looking
at or a target price by the task force? And would it be helpful to
have this Federal law?
Mr. CARPENITO. I think it would be helpful to have that Federal
law, as well as Mr. Hughes——
Senator KLOBUCHAR. That made my day. Thank you.
Mr. CARPENITO [continuing.] I am sorry?
Senator KLOBUCHAR. That made my day.
Mr. CARPENITO. I think as Mr. Hughes said, too, a sentencing en-
hancement for those who try to take advantage of situations like
this, national disasters, I think would also be a very useful tool.
With regards to thresholds, I think that the target range you are
talking about is the target range that we are talking about. The
State Attorney Generals, the practices that I have looked at, the
State price-gouging laws are usually in the 10-to 20-percent range.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
26
We are certainly looking for markups of that amount or greater in
our investigations.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. Last, Mr. Hughes, in your written
testimony, you mentioned the Antitrust Division’s joint statement
with the FTC on monitoring employer collusion during the pan-
demic. I am very focused—I am the Ranking Member on the Anti-
trust Subcommittee with Senator Lee, and I am really concerned
about what is going on, like the proposed Uber-Grubhub merger
that there has been some discussion about, I shall say, and the fact
that we’re seeing more and more consolidation during the pan-
demic.
And on May 1, I sent a letter to the Antitrust Division and the
FTC with a number of other Senators emphasizing the need for
vigorous antitrust enforcement. The letter included a number of
questions, and we received a response from the FTC, but we have
not received anything from the Antitrust Division.
Given the importance of this issue right now, when can we ex-
pect a response?
Mr. HUGHES. Thank you for the question, Senator. I do not know
the status of that particular letter. I understand and agree that the
subject of it is important, and I can go back to my colleagues at
the Department and—but I do assure you that the Department of
Justice takes these letters seriously, and we understand that ac-
commodation is important to the legislative process.
Senator KLOBUCHAR. It is. Just making sure that we make this
a major, major piece of our consumer work right now, because it’s
easy just to turn an eye with these major companies saying, ‘‘Hey,
let us merge. Times are tough,’’ when, in fact, what is happening
is that they are squeezing out smaller and smaller companies, and
we are going to have less competition, which is the whole reason
we have the antitrust laws to begin with.
The last thing, I will ask this for the record—I know my time has
expired; I will ask it later—about this bill that Senator Moran and
I just did on protecting seniors from scams. And we also know that
a lot of seniors are targeted, and I will ask that later. So thank
you.
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. Senator
Blackburn.
Senator BLACKBURN. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want
to thank our witnesses for being there today.
One of the first cases having to do with price gouging was two
brothers outside Chattanooga and they were buying up hand sani-
tizer and then running the price up online from $8 to I think $70
per container. So if you would, talk to me a little bit about your
participation with local and State officials and how you work with
them. And I think, Mr. Shivers, this probably is best coming to you,
and if you all will talk just a little bit about how you work with
your State and local law enforcement partners.
Mr. SHIVERS. So one of the FBI’s strengths is working with our
Federal, State, and local partners, and obviously working in the
COVID–19 environment it’s been very challenging. But that has
not deterred our ability to coordinate with our State and local part-
ners.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
27
There are a number of ways, and I think one of the previous
questions is how does the FBI receive information relative to some
of the fraud schemes. Obviously, there’s a wide range, but through
coordination with our State and local partners, we are receiving a
lot of information relative to COVID–19 fraud. So because we oper-
ated in a task force environment in many of our offices, whether
that’s our Safe Streets Task Force or Violent Crime Task Force, a
lot of our task forces have pivoted to address the threat of the
COVID–19 fraud schemes that we are seeing.
And so, again, for us, it’s just a continual practice of working
very closely with our State and local partners and addressing what-
ever crimes are being committed within their jurisdictions.
Senator BLACKBURN. All right. That sounds great. And then
when you are working with Big Tech and trying to get the informa-
tion for online fraud with some of these companies, and primarily
dealing with China and the fraudulent and inferior merchandise
and PPE that was coming out of there, how are you working with
some of our allies in this virtual space in order to get this informa-
tion to shut these entities down? And does Big Tech respond quick-
ly to your requests to shut down some of these entities and then
to block them off their server systems?
Mr. SHIVERS. So as previously mentioned, our focus is not the im-
portation of the PPE. We are primarily dealing with PPE on the
front end as it pertains to hoarding and price gouging. And through
the course of our investigations, we are coming across PPE that
may be substandard or counterfeit.
As it pertains to working with our international partners, there
are a number of fraud schemes that I think we have talked about
today. Some of those fraud schemes are internet-based, and so, as
appropriate, we work with our international partners to develop in-
formation leads that may have a nexus to the United States or
leads that we may disseminate to our international partners. So
the international partnership is very important in dealing with
COVID–19 because, again, a lot of these fraud schemes are ema-
nating from all across the world.
We have a relationship with various entities in the private sec-
tor, and I spoke a few minutes earlier about our relationship with
the banking industry. We also work with the tech industry, but, ob-
viously, you know, that requires legal service in order to receive in-
formation that may be relevant to our investigation.
Senator BLACKBURN. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. Senator Blumenthal.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to ask our two Justice Department representatives,
have you—are you familiar with Project Airbridge?
Mr. CARPENITO. Yes, sir, I am familiar with the fact that Project
Airbridge exists.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. A number of us, Senator Warren and I,
began an investigation some time ago asking questions of the six
major distributors involved in Project Airbridge. And our inquiry
has shown that there was cronyism and political favoritism that
led to tragically misallocated supplies and Government seizures of
equipment that were going to providers that very much needed it.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
28
Cronyism and incompetence that was exemplified in this program
had real-life consequences, and clearly this Project Airbridge, which
was a kind of pet project of Jared Kushner, was, in effect, a bridge
to nowhere for the health care providers who needed that equip-
ment. At the very least, there was incompetence, confusion, and
even possible corruption.
Is there any ongoing inquiry within the Department of Justice
relating to Project Airbridge?
Mr. CARPENITO. Unfortunately, Senator, I am not at liberty to
discuss any ongoing nonpublic investigations of the Department.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Will you commit to reviewing this inquiry
and making it part of your investigation if there is one underway?
Mr. CARPENITO. Unfortunately, Senator, doing that would be ac-
knowledging the existence of an investigation, and I am just not at
liberty to discuss investigations of the Department.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Well, you’ll at least read the results of our
investigation, correct?
Mr. CARPENITO. Once again, sir, I would be remiss to comment
about an investigation. What I can tell you is we are committed to
rooting out fraud with relation to any of the CARES Act programs
and anything related to COVID–19 hoarding and price gouging.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Well, Senator Schumer, Senator Warren,
and I will send you the results of this investigation, and hopefully
you will followup on it.
Mr. CARPENITO. Thank you.
Let me ask you about the fake cures which are part of that, I
think, $48 billion total number that Senator Feinstein mentioned,
which is an astonishing and appalling number. If Americans have
lost close to $50 billion, we need really aggressive and proactive
law enforcement in this area. I know you’ve said that you have
enough resources and authority, but I think that Americans are
going to be looking for results at some point. So I would suggest
that maybe you would want to review whether, in fact, you do have
enough authority and resources, because there can’t be too much
when you’re investigating this kind of fraud that directly impacts
people.
In a recent report, the Center for Science in the Public Interest
found that at least 49 dietary supplements on Amazon with
antiviral claims were making false and misleading statements. Do
you have any such fake cures under investigation?
Mr. CARPENITO. I would yield to Mr. Hughes.
Mr. HUGHES. So, Senator, we have several investigations that re-
late to misbranded or mismarketed pharmaceuticals——
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Have you brought any actions?
Mr. HUGHES [continuing.] We have. We have brought a number
of injunctions to stop the marketing of such conduct. We have filed
criminal complaints against the individuals who have been mar-
keting——
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Could you provide the details to my office,
please?
Let me move on because my time is limited. In terms of unem-
ployment insurance, you were answering some questions posed by
Senator Whitehouse. What exactly is the modus operandi of these
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
29
potential scams? And are you finding actual criminal violations in
any of these scams impacting Connecticut?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. Senator, as we’ve seen, what it primarily is, the
scam itself, is acquiring PII, stolen PII, whether it be purchased on
the black market or through network intrusions and being utilized
using that information and applying to the different States for the
unemployment insurance. Yes, we are finding violations, and we
are pursuing those cases.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. How close are you to bringing action?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. I do not have specific information as to how
close we are to prosecution.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Do you have a dollar amount in terms of
what the impact is?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. I have stated previously, Senator, is that we
published an alert in mid-May, and working with the financial in-
stitutions, because the financial institutions are the natural choke
point for these payments to go, they were able to prevent, accord-
ing to them, over $500 million in payments. We’ve also been able
to recover and return to the State of Michigan about $30 million
of fraudulent payments that were made.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Do you have suspects, specific individuals?
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. I do not personally have that information. I
know we have active investigations.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Well, when I say ‘‘you,’’ I do not mean you
personally. I mean your agency.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. I would have to go back and get specific infor-
mation.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Could you provide more details to my of-
fice later today? I am out of time right now, and you need more
information from your agency, so I would appreciate additional in-
formation later today.
Mr. D’AMBROSIO. We will provide what we can. These are ongo-
ing investigations that would be limited, but yes, Senator.
Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. Hirono.
Senator HIRONO. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I was very interested in the line of questioning by my colleague
Senator Durbin. Mr. Carpenito, you indicated that you are now get-
ting cooperation from Amazon, Facebook, and eBay about the sell-
ing of stolen items. So have there been any prosecutions based on
the information that you have gotten from the cooperation from
these three entities?
Mr. CARPENITO. I do not have any specifics about any investiga-
tions in front of me. What I can tell you is that we have done out-
reach with those outlets, and I am unaware of any situation where
we have sought information and have not obtained it pursuant to
legal process.
Senator HIRONO. Well, apparently, according to the way the situ-
ation was described by Senator Durbin, that this goes on in quite
a blatant way. And if you can get information from these entities
that are platforms for the sale of these stolen goods, that would be
a good thing. And so I would suggest that you look at the INFORM
Consumers Act that Senator Durbin referred to, which is bipar-
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
30
tisan, supported by Senators Durbin, Cassidy, myself, and Senator
Perdue. That may give you more tools to go after these kinds of
crimes.
I think all the panelists, you have referred to hundreds of pros-
ecutions, thousands of investigations as a result of all the scams
and fraud perpetrated because of the opportunities presented by
COVID–19. And I think, Mr. Hughes, you indicated that there are
serious consequences for people who commit these kinds of criminal
acts. So I would like to know. Has anybody gone to prison? Are you
seeking prison time? What kind of fines are you imposing on the
people that you prosecute for these crimes?
Mr. HUGHES. Thank you for the question, Senator. I think for the
frauds, the standard penalty, the incarceration length, applies that
normally applies under non-COVID–19-related circumstances. With
respect to some of the PPP fraud, for example, again, a lot of fac-
tors need to be—need to necessarily affect how long a particular de-
fendant’s prison time would be. And whether they plead and take
responsibility or are convicted at trial also affects it, as does the
sentencing judge.
Back-of-the-envelope calculation, just for PPP would be any-
where—the average would be between 50 months and 100 months.
And that is, you know, typical for the types of frauds we are seeing
where the proceeds are in the millions of dollars. Again, there are
a number of different tools we bring to bear to address these prob-
lems and disrupt these schemes.
Senator HIRONO. Mr. Hughes, I am running out of time, but do
you think that we should create higher consequences or steeper
consequences for people who take advantage during a national cri-
sis and a pandemic? You referred to the usual fraud kinds of con-
sequences, but maybe we should be looking at higher levels of con-
sequences. What do you think?
Mr. HUGHES. Senator, I think there is an honest and important
debate as to the level of consequences for offenses during a national
emergency. There have been discussions about proposed legislation
regarding Sentencing Guidelines. Those discussions, in the Depart-
ment’s view, should continue, and we would be willing to have dis-
cussions about other proposed legislation in that vein.
Senator HIRONO. You have been asked the UI scam involving a
Nigerian entity. So, apparently, a number of these kinds of frauds
are perpetrated by foreign entities, and I’m wondering. How easy
is it for you to effectively prosecute foreign entities? And do you
need more tools, any of you, to go after these foreign criminals?
Mr. HUGHES. I think from a prosecution standpoint I’ll defer to
our law enforcement investigative colleagues with respect to inves-
tigations, but from a prosecution perspective, we have a number of
tools, jurisdictional hooks which permit Federal prosecutors to
charge and effectively prosecute foreign criminal organizations.
And those tools in many respects are as robust as they can given
certain jurisdictional and constitutional limitations. But I will defer
to my Federal investigations colleagues for the investigations piece.
Mr. SHIVERS. So as I mentioned previously, working with inter-
national partners is very important for us, and so whether these
fraud schemes emanate from a foreign country that touch our
American citizens, we work very closely through our legal attaché
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
31
offices around the world to develop information, work in conjunc-
tion with our foreign law enforcement partners to bring charges.
Obviously, one of the potential obstacles that we would face
would be matters of extradition, so those are some of the things
that we have to work through. But, again, these fraud schemes, be-
cause many are internet-based, have a foreign nexus. And so with
the FBI, one of the things that we have done—and this was
through our elder fraud initiative that we worked with the Depart-
ment of Justice over the last 2 years—is we have assigned assist-
ant legal attachés in various countries where we know some of
these fraud schemes emanate. And that gives us greater visibility,
greater connection with our international partners, and enhances
our ability to bring those individuals to justice.
Senator HIRONO. May I just have ask more question, a followup,
Mr. Chairman?
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you very much, Senator Hirono. We
will make sure you get to do that.
Senator HIRONO. Okay.
Chairman GRAHAM. Okay. Thank you. Let us see. Senator Book-
er.
Senator BOOKER. I think Senator Hirono said she wanted to ask
one last question.
Chairman GRAHAM. Oh, I am sorry. I misheard. Senator Hirono.
Senator HIRONO. I am sorry.
Chairman GRAHAM. No, no. I apologize. Ask anything you want
to ask. I apologize.
Senator HIRONO. I think it is really hard to prosecute these kinds
of crimes when the perpetrators are foreigners, and our panel ex-
plained the difficulties. And so a lot of this type of information is
stolen information that is already out there, the personally identifi-
able information. So is there something more that States and indi-
viduals can do to protect themselves from the sort of fraud that
comes about from stolen identities?
Chairman GRAHAM. Good question.
Mr. SHIVERS. I would say just kind of a basic 101, there are a
number of services where individuals can have access to their cred-
it report, and I would imagine that reviewing your credit report for
anything that, you know, you may not have knowledge of would be
important. But I think also taking preventive measures, and that
is, obviously, the internet, there’s a way that the criminals ap-
proach individuals, sending these unsolicited emails. So I would
just say just using, for lack of a better word, basic common sense
in how the public deals with some of these opportunities that these
criminal organizations take advantage of.
So it’s obviously a very difficult thing, but, again, unsolicited
emails, unsolicited phone calls, where individuals are actually pro-
viding some of the PII. But, again, as we have talked about, some
of that PII may be stolen. So I would just say just using some basic
preventive measures.
Senator HIRONO. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. Senator Booker.
Senator BOOKER. Mr. Chairman, I think the rule of the Com-
mittee should be it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
I know Senator Hirono knows that rule.
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
32
But I am grateful to be here, and if I can, I want to direct my
questions to Mr. Carpenito, not just because he is from New Jersey,
not just because he is bald, not just because Anthony Ambrose, who
is both of those things, has said generous things about him. But,
obviously, these issues are really impacting our State, and I would
love to get some of his insights.
And so, first of all, we have seen numerous instances of retailers
taking advantage of the global pandemic and gouging, charging
outrageous fees for medical supplies, personal protective equip-
ment, things that are really—we deem essential and are critical to
the life, safety, and well-being of so many of our first responders
and others. This behavior is immoral, frankly, and reprehensible.
My team and I have introduced the Prevent Emergency and Dis-
aster Profiteering Act on May 7. There is no Federal law against
this kind of reprehensible price gouging on essential items that are
deemed critical to the health, safety, and lives of so many Ameri-
cans.
And so, Mr. Carpenito, I am curious what you think of the power
of having a Federal law against this kind of gouging, if you could
comment on that, and then talk about the prevalence of this in
New Jersey and how have you, without that law, been successful
in trying to combat these issues.
Mr. CARPENITO. Thank you, Senator. So I agree with your char-
acterization. I think New Jersey is one of the States that had one
of the largest impacts from this type of conduct because, as every-
one knows, New York and New Jersey were two of the most im-
pacted States in the country by COVID–19.
We also have some of the most vulnerable victims for this as we
have a very large elderly population, and we have a very large
health care system.
So, thankfully, because of the invocation of the Defense Produc-
tion Act and the swift movement by Attorney General Barr to set
up the task force to enforce the act, we have had the tools to ad-
dress hoarding and price gouging of scarce materials, those des-
ignated by the Department of Health and Human Services, and
that’s how we have been able to operate. I have not felt constrained
as a task force leader in our tools there.
But as you mentioned, there is a—there is really a history and
a record here of folks trying to take advantage of national disasters
like this. We saw it in Katrina. You and I saw it in New Jersey
after Hurricane Sandy. And we’ve seen it throughout the country
on a scale that we have never seen before with COVID–19 because
it is the largest health crisis we have had since the Spanish flu.
We have been unable to address certain types of price gouging
because there’s not a Federal statute. For example, things like toi-
let paper, things like, you know, meat, things like food, things like
other materials that personal consumers need are better suited
under the current statutory scheme to be prosecuted by State At-
torney General’s offices.
What we have done is I have worked with Mr. Hughes, Mr. Shiv-
ers, and we have made sure that we make those referrals to State
AGs where we think they have the better tools to prosecute those
individuals, because the most important thing, as always, is just to
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
33
make sure that these people are brought to justice, not who does
it.
Senator BOOKER. I am grateful for that response, and I do really
believe there is an urgency to give on the Federal level more tools
to deal with that.
You know, on March 20 of this year, you announced the creation
of the Federal-State COVID–19 Fraud Task Force with Attorney
General Gurbir Grewal and our Comptroller Walsh. The task force
bridges the prosecutorial efforts of the State and Federal agencies
and the kind of coordination and cooperation I think is really need-
ed in circumstances like this. And so I just want to hear a little
bit more about the Federal-State task force, what kind of fraud
schemes you guys have uncovered since its creation and what chal-
lenges have you all encountered in combating that fraud that you
see out there.
Mr. CARPENITO. Sure, and you—we are very blessed in New Jer-
sey. I can’t speak about every State, but I think that we have
heard—as task force leaders, myself and Mr. Hughes have heard
similar success stories throughout the country in forming partner-
ships here. We have had a very good relationship during my entire
tenure with Attorney General Grewal’s office and, in particular,
working with his first assistant, Jen Davenport, and his executive
assistant, Andrew Brock. They’ve been in almost daily contact with
our task force folks in New Jersey, sharing referrals.
Unfortunately, I cannot get into specifics of referrals because the
cases that I have on my mind are not ones that are publicly avail-
able information at this time. But what I can tell you is we haven’t
really seen a lot of hurdles because we have put egos aside and we
have focused most importantly on making sure these cases are
brought.
You know, with regards to the tools, like I said, the Defense Pro-
duction Act has been a powerful tool for us, and it’s given us the
authority to investigate price gouging and do so pretty vociferously
and quickly.
Senator BOOKER. I’m over time. I’m going to submit more of a lot
of our pressing questions for the record, for QFRs.
Senator BOOKER. I do have one last question for you to put you
on the spot, and I apologize for doing this in advance. But my ques-
tion simply is, Anthony Ambrose, is he a great police director or
is he the greatest police director?
Mr. CARPENITO. He is a national treasure. I’ve been saying this
since I came into office, and we have seen it during these riots. The
fact that Newark stayed together as a community and were peace-
ful in their reaction to the death of George Floyd is a credit to Di-
rector Ambrose for his handling of law enforcement and a credit to
Mayor Ras Baraka for his community engagement. And I saw first-
hand for the past 8 to 10 days as other cities struggled with these
protests, Newark thrived, and they are doing so because of the
work that was done through the Newark consent decree with the
leadership of Anthony Ambrose, and as I said, the community en-
gagement and support that Mayor Baraka has shown for his police
department and, quite frankly, the support that both have shown
to me since I have been U.S. Attorney in focusing on violent crime
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
34
throughout Newark through not just prosecutions but by education
and community engagement.
Senator BOOKER. Well, I appreciate your deference to consent de-
crees. I wish that the current Attorney General would actually en-
gage and use them. They were a constructive force in the city of
Newark. I appreciate you saying things about the extraordinary
leadership of Ras Baraka. That is 100 percent true. And Anthony
Ambrose is a treasure. He takes better care of the city of Newark
than he does himself, so I hope that you will—again, I say this on
the record—encourage him to get out there, exercise, and, you
know, be more healthy so we have him for a few more decades.
Mr. CARPENITO. He is down 70 pounds. We are looking good.
Senator BOOKER. He is, he is, actually, in all truth.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you. I need to call him. I am trying
to lose some weight myself.
So here is the deal. We all appreciate you coming to the Com-
mittee. I asked you do you have the tools necessary, the resources.
It seems like there are some tools that maybe we could utilize that
you do not have. So if you can kind of get your collective wisdom,
I think Senator Durbin had a bill, Senator Klobuchar, I think Sen-
ator Booker introduced legislation. So get back with us about what
we can do to help you. I mean what can the Committee do to
change laws or supplement laws, sentencing enhancing, whatever?
Just let us know.
Thank you all for being on the front lines, and we will hold the
hearing record open for the requisite amount of time for additional
questions. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:58 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
JND-48373 with DISTILLER
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
35
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 1 here 63175.001
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
36
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 2 here 63175.002
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
37
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 3 here 63175.003
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
38
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 4 here 63175.004
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
39
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 5 here 63175.005
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
40
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 6 here 63175.006
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
41
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 7 here 63175.007
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
42
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 8 here 63175.008
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
43
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 9 here 63175.009
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
44
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 10 here 63175.010
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
45
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 11 here 63175.011
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
46
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 12 here 63175.012
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
47
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 13 here 63175.013
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
48
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 14 here 63175.014
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
49
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 15 here 63175.015
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
50
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 16 here 63175.016
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
51
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 17 here 63175.017
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
52
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 18 here 63175.018
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
53
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 19 here 63175.019
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
54
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 20 here 63175.020
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
55
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 21 here 63175.021
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
56
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 22 here 63175.022
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
57
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 23 here 63175.023
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
58
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 24 here 63175.024
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
59
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 25 here 63175.025
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
60
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 26 here 63175.026
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
61
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 27 here 63175.027
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
62
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 28 here 63175.028
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
63
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 29 here 63175.029
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
64
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 30 here 63175.030
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
65
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 31 here 63175.031
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
66
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 32 here 63175.032
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00070 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
67
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 33 here 63175.033
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00071 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
68
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 34 here 63175.034
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00072 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
69
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 35 here 63175.035
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
70
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 36 here 63175.036
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00074 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
71
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 37 here 63175.037
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
72
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 38 here 63175.038
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00076 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
73
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 39 here 63175.039
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00077 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
74
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 40 here 63175.040
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00078 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
75
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 41 here 63175.041
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00079 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
76
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 42 here 63175.042
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00080 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
77
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 43 here 63175.043
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00081 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
78
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 44 here 63175.044
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00082 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
79
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 45 here 63175.045
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00083 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
80
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 46 here 63175.046
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
81
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 47 here 63175.047
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00085 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
82
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 48 here 63175.048
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00086 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
83
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 49 here 63175.049
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00087 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
84
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 50 here 63175.050
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00088 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
85
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 51 here 63175.051
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00089 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
86
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 52 here 63175.052
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00090 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
87
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 53 here 63175.053
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
88
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 54 here 63175.054
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00092 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
89
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 55 here 63175.055
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
90
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 56 here 63175.056
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00094 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
91
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 57 here 63175.057
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00095 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
92
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 58 here 63175.058
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00096 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
93
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 59 here 63175.059
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00097 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
94
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 60 here 63175.060
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00098 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
95
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 61 here 63175.061
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00099 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
96
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 62 here 63175.062
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00100 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
97
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 63 here 63175.063
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00101 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
98
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 64 here 63175.064
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00102 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
99
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 65 here 63175.065
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00103 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
100
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 66 here 63175.066
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00104 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
101
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 67 here 63175.067
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00105 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
102
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 68 here 63175.068
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00106 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
103
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 69 here 63175.069
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00107 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
104
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 70 here 63175.070
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00108 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
105
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 71 here 63175.071
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00109 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
106
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 72 here 63175.072
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00110 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
107
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 73 here 63175.073
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00111 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
108
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 74 here 63175.074
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00112 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
109
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 75 here 63175.075
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
110
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 76 here 63175.076
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00114 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
111
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 77 here 63175.077
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00115 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
112
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 78 here 63175.078
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00116 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
113
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 79 here 63175.079
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00117 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
114
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 80 here 63175.080
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00118 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
115
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 81 here 63175.081
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00119 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
116
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 82 here 63175.082
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00120 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
117
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 83 here 63175.083
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00121 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
118
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 84 here 63175.084
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00122 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
119
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 85 here 63175.085
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00123 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
120
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 86 here 63175.086
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00124 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
121
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 87 here 63175.087
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00125 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
122
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 88 here 63175.088
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00126 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
123
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 89 here 63175.089
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00127 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
124
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 90 here 63175.090
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00128 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
125
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 91 here 63175.091
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00129 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
126
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 92 here 63175.092
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00130 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
127
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 93 here 63175.093
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00131 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
128
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 94 here 63175.094
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00132 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
129
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 95 here 63175.095
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00133 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
130
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 96 here 63175.096
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00134 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
131
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 97 here 63175.097
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00135 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
132
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 98 here 63175.098
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00136 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
133
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 99 here 63175.099
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00137 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
134
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 100 here 63175.100
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00138 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
135
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 101 here 63175.101
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00139 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
136
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 102 here 63175.102
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00140 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
137
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 103 here 63175.103
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00141 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
138
Æ
JND-48373 with DISTILLER Insert offset folio 104 here 63175.104
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jun 17, 2026 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00142 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6011 H:\DISTILLER\63175.TXT DENISE
File and source
- File
- chrg-116shrg63175.pdf
- Size
- 6,203,082 bytes
- SHA-256
- 95ab6fe10dc52092f0e34f64ddbd04f74300a0678cd92a75d3b25e6025f6a618
- Our copy
- chrg-116shrg63175.pdf
- Original
- www.govinfo.gov