Billions of dollars in fraud related to pandemic relief have been uncovered by a joint division of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation unit and the Justice Department. The division, also known as IRS-CI, has conducted 840 tax and money-laundering investigations tied to COVID fraud, totaling more than $3.1 billion, through Sept. 30.
COVID fraud has been running rampant!
The IRS-CI investigations include a wide array of criminal activity, including fraudulently obtained loans, credits, and payments as well as tax credits.
The Department of Justice has also been working to investigate and prosecute pandemic relief fraud and recently announced new criminal charges, convictions, and sentences related to COVID fraud and misuse of CARES Act funds.
The criminals will face justice for their COVID fraud crimes
"These funds were meant for individuals and businesses whose lives were upended by an unprecedented pandemic," said IRS-CI Chief Jim Lee in a statement. "Our special agents aim to do right by the American people and ensure that those who misused these funds face justice for the crimes they committed."
The Justice Department announced a number of cases that IRS-CI helped investigate, including two people in California who were indicted on fraud and money laundering charges in connection with a scheme to obtain $15.9 million in CARES Act funds by submitting 41 fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications and 13 fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications on behalf of companies they owned and controlled.
A wide range of scenarios for COVID fraud
In another COVID fraud case in Florida, a man pleaded guilty last month to bank fraud and money laundering as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain $544,900 in PPP and EIDL funds.
In another set of cases in Georgia, 13 defendants were sentenced since early 2021 and another five pleaded guilty for their roles in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $12 million in PPP and EIDL funds. After the PPP loan proceeds were deposited in their businesses' bank accounts, the defendants distributed the funds through a series of transactions aimed at disguising the origins of the funds and how the funds were spent. They used the PPP loan proceeds to purchase luxury goods and vehicles, among other items.
Many hard working Americans filed legitimate claims for PPP and EIDL funds. If you have any questions or need tax assistance of any kind, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or any of my Tax Problem Solver Team for help.
Contact me by one of the methods below in the blue box, or email me at Larry@TaxProblemSolver.com and we can review your specific issues and solve them. You can also click here to book a free consultation.
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