More than US$ 200,000 million would have been fraudulently paid to small and medium-sized companies in the United States from economic support programs created during the pandemic, according to an official report released Tuesday.
According to the Small Business Administration, that figure is “at least 17% of the US$1.2 trillion of two programs to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic″.
This estimate far exceeds that of the end of 2022, which placed fraud at around US$100 billion.
The high amount can be explained, according to the report, by the “weakening or suspension of controls normally necessary”, as the agency tries to quickly distribute aid to companies in need.
“Obtaining ‘easy money’ in this context attracted a large number of fraudsters”, the report states.
Some US$ 30,000 million paid fraudulently were recovered, says the report, which also indicates that more than 1,000 people were accused and more than 800 arrested, of which 500 were convicted.
Dozens of investigations are ongoing and “we continue to identify fraud schemes”, underlines the report. Therefore, the estimate of the total amount of fraud “You can change”.
In a text attached to the report, the agency noted that the report referred to the “potential fraud” and not to “probable fraud”, which automatically increases the volume of the eventual amount.
The American COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and destroyed more than 20 million jobs in two months.
The federal government expanded unemployment benefits, increased the amounts and duration of payments, and expanded the range of beneficiaries.
The United States spent $4.6 trillion to sustain its economy.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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