Federal agents charged 80 defendants and secured 12 indictments and five guilty pleas in a two-month enforcement surge targeting fraud in the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program.
The enforcement action, led by the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division and the SBA's Office of the Inspector General, ran from June 12 to Sept. 1. It involved 44 U.S. attorney's offices and 20 federal and state investigative agencies. The effort targeted more than 160 criminal defendants in total, with approximately $245 million in intended losses to American taxpayers.
ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Indiana identified alleged transnational fraud schemes through partnerships with industry and worked to prevent exploitation of government grant programs. "Pandemic relief programs were created to support struggling businesses, not to enrich criminals," said Matthew Scarpino, HSI Chicago's special agent in charge.
HSI said it will continue working with federal partners to uncover fraud schemes, protect taxpayer dollars and pursue those who exploited the programs.