{"id":2010039,"date":"2023-08-23T21:46:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thousands-of-defendants-charged-in-covid-relief-fraud-by-doj\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T21:48:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:48:34","slug":"thousands-of-defendants-charged-in-covid-relief-fraud-by-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thousands-of-defendants-charged-in-covid-relief-fraud-by-doj\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ charges thousands in COVID relief fraud."},"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\">14<\/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%2Fthousands-of-defendants-charged-in-covid-relief-fraud-by-doj%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=2010039&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--><h2>DOJ Charges Over 3,000 Individuals\u2063 with Fraud and Recovers $1.4 Billion in COVID-19 Relief Funds<\/h2>\n<p>The Department of Justice (DOJ) has made significant \u2063strides in\u2062 combating COVID-19 \u2062relief \u2064fund fraud, \u200baccording to a recent press\u2063 release. To date, the DOJ has charged over 3,000 individuals with fraud and successfully recovered nearly $1.4 billion in stolen funds.<\/p>\n<p>In a three-month sweep that \u200bconcluded in July, the DOJ \u2063brought criminal charges against\u2064 371 defendants, with 119 of them either pleading guilty \u200dor receiving convictions, as stated in the press release. \u2062Notably, 63 of the defendants had alleged connections to violent crimes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/long-island-ms-13-homicide-trial-highlights-consequences-of-bidens-border-crisis\/\" title=\"Long Island MS-13 Homicide Trial Highlights Consequences Of Biden\u2019s Border Crisis\">including gang members<\/a> who had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fema-didnt-properly-vet-border-nonprofits-that-received-millions-in-federal-funds-inspector-general\/\" title=\"FEMA Didn\u2019t Properly Vet Border Nonprofits That Received Millions in Federal Funds: Inspector General\">received relief funds<\/a> as payment for hired murders.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General \u2062Merrick B. Garland emphasized the DOJ&#8217;s commitment to\u200b pursuing those who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/371-charged-for-covid-19-fraud-totaling-836-million-doj\/\" title=\"DOJ charges 371 for 6M COVID-19 fraud.\">stole pandemic relief funds<\/a>, stating, &#8220;This latest \u200baction, involving over\u2062 300 \u200ddefendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should send a clear\u2063 message: the COVID-19\u200b public health \u2064emergency may have ended, but the Justice \u2062Department\u2019s work is far from over.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Justice Department \u200cAnnounces Results \u2062of \u2064Nationwide COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Action<\/p>\n<p>Department Also Announces \u200dthe Launch \u2062of Two New COVID-19\u2064 Fraud \u200bStrike Forces<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/efznzTak8I\">https:\/\/t.co\/efznzTak8I<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheJusticeDept\/status\/1694364939643695543?\">August 23,\u2062 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>One notable arrest\u200d was that of Leon Haynes, a New Jersey tax preparer who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thousands-of-defendants-charged-in-covid-relief-fraud-by-doj\/\" title=\"DOJ charges thousands in COVID relief fraud.\">allegedly fraudulently\u2062 claimed 4 million<\/a> in COVID-19 tax credits. \u200dHaynes also filed \u2062over 1,000 fraudulent tax forms for businesses he and others owned, misleading clients by claiming it was &#8220;free money&#8221; from the \u200bgovernment, as reported by The\u200d New York\u200d Times.<\/p>\n<p>In addition,\u2062 four individuals were charged with using\u200b international pandemic relief for fraud and money laundering in Nigeria, according to\u200b CNBC.<\/p>\n<p>The scale of the fraud is staggering, with potentially \u2064more than\u2063 $200 billion, or 17 percent, \u2064of the pandemic loans given by agencies falling into the hands of &#8220;fraudulent actors,&#8221; as reported by The New\u200d York Times.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco\u2063 affirmed the DOJ&#8217;s \u200bdetermination to pursue fraudsters and \u2064recover taxpayer funds, stating, &#8220;We\u200d will not rest until justice is served.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Since May\u200d 2021, the\u2063 DOJ has been working diligently to recover funds after\u2064 the creation of the COVID-19 \u2063Fraud Enforcement Task Force. At least 21 agencies have \u200bjoined forces \u200bto regain the lost funding.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p><em>All content created by the\u200c Daily Caller News Foundation,\u200b an independent and nonpartisan\u2062 newswire service, is available without charge \u2064to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a \u2062large audience. All republished articles\u200d must include\u2062 our logo, our reporter\u2019s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/thousands-defendants-charged-covid-relief-fraud-doj\/\">Thousands of Defendants \u2064Charged in COVID Relief Fraud \u2063by \u2063DOJ<\/a> appeared \u2063first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The DOJ revealed that it has charged 3,000+ people with fraud and reclaimed $1.4 billion in COVID-19 relief funds. In a recent press release, the agency stated that a three-month operation in July resulted in 371 defendants facing criminal charges, while 119 defendants were charged separately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2332,"featured_media":2010040,"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":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2010039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"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\/2010039","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\/2332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2010040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}