Hundreds of billions of dollars in government funds stolen to fight COVID-19 in the United States

The brazenness of the thieves and the carelessness of federal authorities led to the largest financial fraud in the history of the country

Photo: Shutterstock

The coronavirus pandemic plunged the U.S. economy into a brief, devastating recession. Unemployment soared to double digits and the government had to spend around $4.6 trillion to get rid of the infection.

But of this amount, more than $280 billion was stolen during the pandemic, according to the Associated Press, and another $19 billion “was wasted.”

In the United States there were a large number of “Ostap Benders” who made money from the “development” of the federal Covid budget. Below are just a few examples.

— Constantinas Zarkadas, a New York doctor who was deeply in debt, falsified at least 11 applications for “pandemic relief,” netting him nearly $3.8 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

– Florida businessman Patrick Parker Walsh used stolen $8 million to buy the exotic Sweetheart Island off the coast of Florida.

— A Tennessee rapper bragged on YouTube about how easy it was to steal more than $700,000 in unemployment insurance during the pandemic.

– Lee E. Price of Houston defrauded the government of nearly $1.7 million by submitting false applications for assistance on behalf of companies that existed only on paper. It didn’t take him long to buy a $14,000 Rolex watch and a $233,000 Lamborghini Urus luxury SUV. It is true that now she, like others, is in prison…

The United States Department of Justice reported that nearly 3,200 defendants have been charged with defrauding federal funds allocated to fight the coronavirus. How many are left free? That money has not reached more than a million people who have died from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How could the state ignore such a leak of public funds? asks the Associated Press. Most of the robberies were simple, but “always brazen.” American “chichikov” used the social security numbers of the deceased and prisoners to receive unemployment checks, which they cashed in different states. However, the data of federal loan applicants was not verified.

A similar situation has developed in the area of ​​granting “Covid loans”. For example, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has been tasked with administering more than $1 trillion in illegal loan protection programs. According to the SBA inspector general’s report, the agency issued $3 billion in loans between March and the end of July 2020. Additionally, potential borrowers were allowed to “self-certify” the accuracy of their applications. A 2022 study by the University of Texas at Austin found nearly five times as many suspicious loans issued than the $20 billion officially reported by the SBA inspector general.

All of this ultimately led to the largest scam in American history, during which thieves stole billions from the treasury allocated by the government to combat COVID-19.