The Covid pandemic brought to light another widespread illness — rising fraud against U.S. taxpayers.
To be sure, the figures are staggering. Pandemic fraud alone ate up an estimated $80 billion of intended small business relief, $90 billion of unemployment relief, and $80 billion from a separate Covid relief program, according to NBC News. Government statistics keep rising but have yet to catch up to those estimates.
Unfortunately, those staggering fraud estimates dwarf the $62 billion in settlements and judgments that the U.S. Department of Justice clawed back between 1986 and 2019 under the False Claims Act.
In other words, as our Kate Scanlan wrote for Taxpayers Against Fraud, in just more than a year, fraudsters took more from the small business relief program (officially known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP) than FCA enforcement had recovered in 34 years.
“PPP money went out from a firehose,” she wrote. “It will have to be clawed back one thimble-full at a time.”
For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021, the DOJ reported $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims. That marked its second-largest fraud recovery ever, which is impressive in some ways, but not in others, Scanlan wrote in a separate analysis.
As of a June report to the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, more than $10 billion of relief funds had been recouped, and hundreds of people had been criminally charged.
Obviously, much has yet to be done, but it’s a start. And it’s a stark reminder that vigilance is required for every government contract, pandemic or otherwise.
Whistleblowers play an integral role in that vigilance, both in uncovering specific instances of fraud and in discouraging other malicious actors.
At Keller Grover, we feel strongly about helping whistleblowers inoculate the country against further surges in fraud. Through our confidential, free consultations, we can advise potential whistleblowers about the best path forward from the very beginning, helping minimize the impact of reporting, protect rights and achieve the best possible outcome for the situation. Our deep experience litigating both fraud and employment law makes us uniquely skilled to represent whistleblowers.