U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Justice Department Announces Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement (DOJ-OPA 03/10/2022) (2022-03-11)

Summary

A Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs press release dated March 10, 2022, announcing that Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers will serve as Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement. The release states that the department's efforts have resulted in criminal charges against over 1,000 defendants with alleged losses exceeding $1.1 billion, the seizure of over $1 billion in Economic Injury Disaster Loan proceeds, and over 240 civil investigations into more than 1,800 individuals and entities over loans totaling more than $6 billion. It reports approximately 500 defendants charged in over 340 PPP and EIDL cases with alleged intended losses of over $700 million, and over 430 defendants charged for UI fraud. It states that Chambers plans to establish Strike Teams.

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                                        Department of Justice
                                         Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            Thursday, March 10, 2022

  Justice Department Announces Director for COVID-19 Fraud
                        Enforcement
     Criminal and Civil Enforcement Actions Alleging Fraud Related to Over $8 Billion in
                                     Pandemic Relief
Today, the Justice Department announced the appointment of a Director for COVID-19 Fraud
Enforcement to lead the department’s criminal and civil enforcement efforts to combat COVID-19 related
fraud, along with the latest results of criminal and civil enforcement actions that include alleged fraud
related to over $8 billion in pandemic relief.

Effective immediately, Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers will serve as the Director for
COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement. Mr. Chambers will lead Justice Department efforts that to date have
resulted in criminal charges against over 1,000 defendants with alleged losses exceeding $1.1 billion; the
seizure of over $1 billion in Economic Injury Disaster Loan proceeds; and over 240 civil investigations
into more than 1,800 individuals and entities for alleged misconduct in connection with pandemic relief
loans totaling more than $6 billion.

“The Justice Department remains committed to using every available federal tool — including criminal,
civil, and administrative actions — to combat and prevent COVID-19 related fraud,” said Attorney General
Merrick B. Garland. “We will continue to hold accountable those who seek to exploit the pandemic for
personal gain, to protect vulnerable populations, and to safeguard the integrity of taxpayer-funded
programs.”

“As our thousands of COVID-19 fraud investigations demonstrate, our message to those who seek to line
their own pockets and benefit from the suffering of so many Americans is: your crimes are not and will
not be forgotten,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.

“I look forward to this new role and to supporting the excellent work of the department’s prosecutors and
trial attorneys since the very beginning of the pandemic,” said Mr. Chambers. “We are receiving an
extraordinary amount of data from our state workforce agency partners. This data holds the key to
identifying and prosecuting certain types of fraud, including unemployment insurance fraud. Our Strike
Teams will enhance the department’s existing efforts and will include analysts and data scientists to
review data, agents to investigate the cases, and prosecutors and trial attorneys to bring charges and try
the cases. Again, this is on top of the great work our folks in the field are already doing.”

Mr. Chambers plans to focus on large-scale criminal enterprises and foreign actors who sought to profit at
the expense of the American people. This will include establishing Strike Teams to prepare for the next
phase in the Justice Department’s efforts to fight pandemic fraud.

In March 2020, Congress passed a $2.2 trillion economic relief bill known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief,
and Economic Security (CARES) Act designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of
Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Anticipating the
need to protect the integrity of these taxpayer funds and to otherwise protect Americans from fraud
related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Justice immediately stood up multiple efforts
dedicated to identifying, investigating, and prosecuting such fraud. Leveraging data analysis capabilities
and partnerships developed through its vast experience combatting economic crime and fraud on
government programs, the Justice Department’s response to COVID-19 related fraud serves as a model
for proactive, high-impact white-collar crime enforcement, and demonstrates our agility in responding to
new and emerging threats. This rapid and nationwide response enabled the Justice Department to quickly
ensure accountability for wrongdoing and sent a forceful message of deterrence during an ongoing crisis.
The multifaceted and multi-district approach to enforcement during this national health emergency
continues and is expected to yield numerous additional criminal and civil enforcement actions in the
coming months.

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

The Justice Department’s efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud schemes have proceeded on
numerous fronts, including cases and investigations involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP),
Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs, and COVID-
19 health care fraud enforcement.

These cases involve the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the United
States, and the department’s Civil Division. They reflect a degree of reach, coordination, and expertise
that is critical for enforcement efforts against COVID-19 related fraud to have a meaningful impact and is
also emblematic of the Justice Department’s response to criminal wrongdoing.

Prominent among the department’s efforts have been cases involving PPP and EIDL fraud. Across the
department, including the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and U.S. Attorneys' Offices, approximately
500 defendants have been charged in over 340 cases with alleged intended losses of over $700 million.

Relatedly, the department has seized over $1 billion in EIDL loan proceeds, primarily through the work of
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and their partners at the U.S. Secret Service.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, up to $860 billion in federal funds have been appropriated for UI
benefits through September 2021. Early investigation and analysis indicate that international organized
criminal groups have targeted these funds by using stolen identities to file for UI benefits. Domestic
criminals, ranging from identity thieves to violent street gangs to prison inmates, have also committed UI
fraud. In response, the department established the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force,
a prosecutor-led, multi-agency task force with representatives from more than eight different federal law
enforcement agencies to coordinate those efforts. U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country have worked
with law enforcement partners to investigate and arrest those responsible for committing UI fraud. Since
the start of the pandemic, over 430 defendants have been charged and arrested for federal offenses
related to UI fraud.

The unprecedented pace and tempo of these efforts is made possible only through the diligent work of a
wide range of Justice Department partners, including the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Money
Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch (Fraud
Section) and Consumer Protection Branch, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country, and law
enforcement partners from the FBI; U.S. Secret Service; IRS-Criminal Investigation; Defense Criminal
Investigative Service; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Offices of
Inspectors General from the Small Business Administration, Department of Labor, Department of
Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Department
of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Housing Finance Agency and
Federal Reserve Board; Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations; Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration; Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; Special Inspector
General for Pandemic Relief; Pandemic Response Accountability Committee; OCDETF Fusion Center and
OCDETF’s International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center.
For further information on the Criminal Division’s enforcement efforts on PPP fraud, including court
documents from significant cases, visit the following website: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-
fraud/ppp-fraud. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. For further information on the Civil Division’s enforcement
efforts, visit the following website: https://www.justice.gov/civil.

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

*The subheadline has been updated to reflect a change from $7 billion to $8 billion in pandemic relief.
(March 10, 2022)
Attachment(s):
Download Fact Sheet - Combatting COVID-19 Fraud.pdf
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Disaster Fraud
Health Care Fraud
Component(s):
Criminal Division
Criminal - Criminal Fraud Section
Office of the Attorney General
Office of the Deputy Attorney General
Press Release Number:
22-218


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