{"id":1947752,"date":"2023-06-15T03:09:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T07:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/investigation-finds-400-billion-was-stolen-or-wasted-in-covid-fraudsters-great-grift\/"},"modified":"2023-06-15T03:11:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T07:11:56","slug":"investigation-finds-400-billion-was-stolen-or-wasted-in-covid-fraudsters-great-grift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/investigation-finds-400-billion-was-stolen-or-wasted-in-covid-fraudsters-great-grift\/","title":{"rendered":"$400 billion lost or misused in Covid fraud investigation."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finvestigation-finds-400-billion-was-stolen-or-wasted-in-covid-fraudsters-great-grift%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1947752&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>The Great Grift: The Staggering Scope of Fraud in Covid-era Programs<\/h2>\n<p>In case you had any lingering doubts that forcibly shutting down the entire economy over a virus and replacing economic activity with government payments does not represent a smart strategy, the Associated Press has more evidence to bolster the case.<\/p>\n<p>Its <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pandemic-fraud-waste-billions-small-business-labor-fb1d9a9eb24857efbe4611344311ae78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">latest investigation<\/a>, titled \u201cThe Great Grift,\u201d highlighted the staggering scope of fraud taxpayers face because of Covid-era programs. On the heels of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/covid-health-business-florida-new-york-1c54ec32b2e31ed10bb1628379763425\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">earlier AP investigations<\/a> that showed significant spending on projects that had <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/04\/heres-some-of-the-garbage-democrats-funded-as-covid-relief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">little to do with the coronavirus<\/a>, the story provides one major explanation \u2014 albeit an infuriating one \u2014 for our nearly $32 trillion-and-counting federal debt.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Hundreds of Billions in Waste<\/h3>\n<p>Overall, the AP analysis found that the federal government appropriated nearly $5.2 trillion on Covid-related efforts during the pandemic. That total includes roughly $3.2 trillion shelled out under President Donald Trump, in addition to the $1.9 trillion \u201cstimulus\u201d legislation that Democrats rammed through after President Joe Biden took office.<\/p>\n<p>Other figures seem even more shocking. For starters, roughly 20 percent, or $1 trillion, of the $5.2 trillion \u201chas yet to be paid out, according to the [Pandemic Response Accountability] Committee\u2019s most recent accounting.\u201d You read that right: More than three years after the coronavirus first hit \u2014 and after the Biden administration (finally) ended the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/martinez-we-have-2-4-hour-lines-due-to-new-mexico-lockdown\/\" title=\"Martinez: 'We Have 2-4 Hour Lines' Due to New Mexico Lockdown\">public health emergency<\/a> for the virus \u2014 there is still $1,000,000,000,000 in federal \u201cCovid cash\u201d left to be spent. (Much of the money has been contractually obligated but not yet spent, which provides an explanation \u2014 or excuse, depending upon one\u2019s point of view \u2014 as to why Congress could not rescind the full $1 trillion in last month\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/05\/31\/mccarthys-debt-limit-deal-virtually-guarantees-another-omnibus-train-wreck\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-majority-leader-schumer-announces-agreement-to-extend-debt-ceiling-until-early-dec\/\" title=\"Senate Majority Leader Schumer announces agreement to extend debt ceiling until early Dec.\">debt limit deal<\/a><\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Of the roughly $4.2 trillion spent thus far, approximately 10 percent of the sum represents fraud or waste. The AP investigation found $280 billion in stolen money, with \u201canother $123 billion \u2026 wasted or misspent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Investigators Overwhelmed<\/h3>\n<p>To give some scale of the magnitude of the fraud, consider that investigators within the Small Business Administration have \u201ca backlog of more than 80,000 actionable leads, close to 100 years\u2019 worth of work.\u201d If investigators have a backlog that could keep them occupied for an entire century, then what do you think the chances are that a single individual who fraudulently claimed assistance for a bogus business will get tried and brought to justice?<\/p>\n<p>Independent experts think the amount of fraud could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/investigation-finds-400-billion-was-stolen-or-wasted-in-covid-fraudsters-great-grift\/\" title=\"0 billion lost or misused in Covid fraud investigation.\">easily exceed official government estimates<\/a>. The AP story noted that a 2022 study from the University of Texas counted the amount of questionable Paycheck Protection Plan loans at $117 billion, nearly six times the $20 billion total cited by the Small Business Administration\u2019s inspector general.<\/p>\n<h3>Actions Insufficient to Fight Fraudsters<\/h3>\n<p>Both then and now, federal officials seem unable or unwilling to do enough to combat the scam artists. Michael Horowitz, who heads the pandemic oversight committee, criticized the government for not checking individuals against the Treasury\u2019s \u201cDo Not Pay\u201d database before sending out funds in 2020, even though a review against this existing database would have taken minimal time: \u201c24 hours? 48 hours? Would that really have upended the program? I don\u2019t think it would have. And it was data sitting there. It didn\u2019t get checked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even now, investigators still face obstacles. The Labor Department\u2019s inspector general noted a lack of cooperation from the federal Bureau of Prisons in tracking down prisoners who scammed the government for fraudulent unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n<p>It is enough to make honest taxpayers feel like a bunch of suckers for funding payments to these scam artists and hucksters. That the government shut down businesses, schools, and countless other establishments in the name of fighting a virus was bad enough, particularly given the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/13\/abysmal-national-test-score-drops-show-school-lockdowns-hurt-americas-poor-the-most\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">long-lasting effects of the shutdowns on our nation\u2019s children<\/a>. That Washington saw fit to give billions to scam artists, ostensibly to offset the harm of its ill-advised policies in the first place, adds insult to injury.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Associated Press investigation, &#8220;The Great Grift,&#8221; provides further evidence against the strategy of shutting down the economy and relying on government payments. It exposes the extensive fraud taxpayers are confronted with, dispelling any doubts about the effectiveness of this approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1164,"featured_media":1947753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[9989,4127,6909,3976,5987,19581],"class_list":["post-1947752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-9989","tag-covid","tag-fraud","tag-investigation","tag-lost","tag-misused"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1947752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1947753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1947752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1947752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1947752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}