{"id":2017651,"date":"2023-08-31T01:56:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T05:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-lawmaker-questions-doj-about-280-billion-in-lost-covid-relief\/"},"modified":"2023-08-31T02:00:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T06:00:15","slug":"gop-lawmaker-questions-doj-about-280-billion-in-lost-covid-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-lawmaker-questions-doj-about-280-billion-in-lost-covid-relief\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP lawmaker queries DOJ on $280B lost in COVID relief funds."},"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\">22<\/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%2Fgop-lawmaker-questions-doj-about-280-billion-in-lost-covid-relief%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=2017651&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>Chairman\u2062 of House Subcommittee Calls for DOJ Action on COVID-19 Relief Fraud<\/h2>\n<p>Rep.\u200b Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, is demanding answers\u2062 from the U.S. Department\u2063 of Justice (DOJ)\u2062 regarding the recovery of an estimated $280 billion in U.S. COVID-19\u200d relief funds \u2064that were allegedly funneled to \u2062criminals both domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n<p>In \u2063a letter addressed to \u200bAttorney General Merrick Garland, Mr. Wenstrup urged the DOJ to provide a comprehensive account of all ongoing and past investigations into\u2064 the misappropriation of\u2063 taxpayer funds within COVID-19 relief programs. The congressman referenced a \u2064June analysis by the \u200cAssociated Press,\u2062 which estimated that approximately $280 billion\u2062 of \u200bU.S. COVID-19 relief\u200c spending had been lost to fraudulent schemes conducted both within and outside the country.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Mr. \u2064Wenstrup cited a 2021 report by NBC \u2064News, which claimed \u2064that a \u2062significant portion of the fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief funds had ended up\u200b in the hands of Russian, Chinese, \u2063and Nigerian criminal organizations.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/health\/purplish-discoloration-of-the-legs-an-unusual-long-covid-symptom-5482467\">Purplish Discoloration of the Legs: An \u2064Unusual Long-COVID Symptom<\/a> \u200d (8\/30\/2023)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/health\/new-covid-variant-ba-2-86-detected-in-new-york-citys-sewage-health-department-5482977\">New COVID Variant BA.2.86 Detected in New York\u2062 City\u2019s Sewage: Health Department<\/a> \u2063 (8\/30\/2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Some of \u200bthese fraudulent \u200cactors were based outside the United States and may <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nigerian-prince-alert-feds-coronavirus-loan-program-paid-1-billion-to-people-who-applied-from-other-countries\/\" title=\"Nigerian Prince Alert: Feds\u2019 Coronavirus Loan Program Paid  Billion To People Who Applied From Other Countries\">involve international criminal organizations<\/a>. Estimates \u200cimply that at \u2062least half of all stolen COVID-19 relief funds went to Russian, Chinese, and Nigerian criminals,&#8221;\u2063 he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government has been diligently working to account for over $4 trillion in COVID-19 relief spending. In addition\u200c to the $280 billion \u200dlost to fraud,\u200b the Associated Press estimated that an additional $123 billion \u2064was wasted or\u2064 misused.<\/p>\n<p>In a \u200cMarch 2022 press \u200crelease, the DOJ announced \u2063that it\u2062 had successfully recovered approximately $8 billion\u200b in COVID-19 relief funds through a combination\u200d of criminal prosecutions and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-passes-bill-incentivizing-states-to-claw-back-fraudulent-unemployment-insurance-benefits\/\" title=\"Bill passed to encourage states to recover fraudulent unemployment benefits.\">civil enforcement actions<\/a>. However, this\u2063 recovery effort represents only about three percent of the potentially lost funds, and it remains unclear how much has been recovered from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-attorneys-bust-crypto-money-laundering-ring\/\" title=\"U.S. Attorneys Bust Crypto Money Laundering Ring\">foreign criminal actors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2062 is\u2063 highly concerning that possibly\u200d billions of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-passes-defense-bill-measure-that-blocks-funds-for-studios-that-censor-for-ccp\/\" title=\"House passes defense bill blocking funds for studios censoring for CCP.\">taxpayer dollars intended<\/a> to help \u2062Americans suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were stolen \u200dby organized criminal \u2063rings in\u200c foreign countries,&#8221; \u2063expressed the Republican lawmaker. &#8220;Therefore, we write today to better\u200b understand the full scope\u200d of this problem and what actions the Department has taken to\u200b investigate international COVID-19 relief program fraud and \u2063hold these foreign \u200dactors\u200c accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Wenstrup \u200chas requested\u2063 that the\u2063 DOJ provide a detailed breakdown of current \u2064and closed COVID-19 fraud cases, including \u2064the countries involved and estimated dollar values of\u2064 missing relief funds.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ\u200d continues to\u200b pursue new cases to recover COVID-19 relief funds. Just last week, the \u200cdepartment \u2062announced a \u2064nationwide enforcement effort resulting in\u2064 718 actions against 371\u2062 defendants, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-lawmaker-questions-doj-about-280-billion-in-lost-covid-relief\/\" title=\"GOP lawmaker queries DOJ on 0B lost in COVID relief funds.\">targeting alleged fraud offenses<\/a> that led to \u2062the misallocation of approximately $836 million.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these ongoing efforts, the U.S. still has a long way to \u2064go \u2064in recovering all the funds lost to COVID-19 fraud schemes. The process of recovering these funds could take years, assuming they can be fully recovered at all.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The COVID-19 public health emergency\u2063 may have ended, but the\u200c Justice Department\u2019s\u200d work to identify and\u2063 prosecute those who stole \u2062pandemic \u200brelief \u200bfunds is far from over,&#8221; stated Mr. Garland \u2062when announcing the latest anti-fraud initiatives by\u2062 the DOJ.<\/p>\n<p>Legislation exten<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), head of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, has inquired about the actions taken by the U.S. Department of Justice to reclaim approximately $280 billion of COVID-19 relief funds that were reportedly misused by criminals both domestically and internationally. In a letter (pdf) sent on Tuesday, Mr. Wenstrup seeks clarification on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1759,"featured_media":2017652,"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":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2017651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"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\/2017651","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\/1759"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2017651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2017652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2017651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2017651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2017651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}