Over $200 billion from the US government’s COVID-19 relief programs were potentially stolen, a federal watchdog said on Tuesday, adding that the US Small Business Administration had weakened its controls in a rush to disburse the funds.
At least 17% of all funds related to the government’s coronavirus Economic Injury Disaster Loan) and Paycheck Protection Program schemes were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors, according to a report released Tuesday by the SBA’s office of inspector general.
Over the course of the pandemic, the SBA disbursed about $1.2 trillion of EIDL and PPP funds.
The SBA disputed the more than $200 billion figure put forward by the watchdog and said the inspector general’s approach had significantly overestimated fraud.
The agency said its experts put the potential fraud estimate at $36 billion and added that over 86% of that likely fraud took place in 2020 when the administration of former President Donald Trump was in office. President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.—Reuters
