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Recent headlines state that $191 billion in pandemic unemployment insurance was lost to fraud. Not exactly. In this Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's Congressional Testimony, around $76 billion of that is classified as fraud. The rest of those funds are referred to as improper payments.

In March 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expanded the Child Tax Credit. Eligible families could claim the credit for each qualifying child when submitting their 2021 tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service issued more than 37 million Child Tax Credits totaling nearly $94 billion in 2021. Families can still submit revised tax returns to claim the credit until 2024.

While you may have heard them referred to as stimulus checks, the Economic Impact Payments were, for the most part, direct deposited into bank accounts or sent out as bank cards. More than 476 million payments totaling $814 billion in financial relief went to households impacted by the pandemic. The Internal Revenue Service based the amounts that individuals received on income, tax filing status, and number of children (or qualifying dependents, like a relative).

A Deepwater, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

CAMDEN, N.J. – Three individuals were indicted for their roles in fraudulently obtaining approximately $5 million of federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and for laundering the loan proceeds.

NEWARK, NJ. – Two New York men today admitted conspiring with others to defraud dozens of states to obtain millions of dollars of COVID-19 unemployment benefits; one of the defendants also admitted to fentanyl conspiracy and distribution and conspiring to defraud the IRS of tax credit benefits.

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Donald Finley, a Locust Valley businessman and owner of the now-defunct Jekyll & Hyde theme restaurant in Manhattan and the Bayville Adventure Park on Long Island, was sentenced by United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack to 24 months in prison. Finley pleaded guilty in May 2023 to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud in connection with his receipt of $3.2 million dollars in small business loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

A Coffee County man was sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution for fraudulently obtaining funds intended to help businesses struggling financially during the pandemic.

A woman from the Mid-City area of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today to fraudulently obtaining more than $2 million in COVID-19 government loans and to submitting false claims in an unsuccessful effort to secure from the IRS nearly $1.3 million in pandemic-related tax credits.