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applegrove

(118,020 posts)
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 04:44 PM Jan 2023

$5.4 billion in covid aid may have gone to firms using suspect Social Security numbers

THE COVID MONEY TRAIL
$5.4 billion in covid aid may have gone to firms using suspect Social Security numbers

The new findings from the nation’s top pandemic watchdog come as House Republicans plan to hold their first hearing this week on covid fraud.

By Tony Romm
Updated January 30, 2023 at 3:19 p.m. EST|Published January 30, 2023 at 2:32 p.m. EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/01/30/ppp-covid-fraud-social-security/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

"SNIP........

The U.S. government may have awarded roughly $5.4 billion in coronavirus aid to small businesses with potentially ineligible Social Security numbers, offering the latest indication that Washington’s haste earlier in the pandemic opened the door for widespread waste, fraud and abuse.

The top watchdog overseeing stimulus spending — called the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, or PRAC — offered the new estimate in an alert issued Monday and shared early with the Washington Post. It comes as House Republicans prepare to hold their first hearing this week to study the roughly $5 trillion in total federal stimulus aid approved since spring 2020.

The alleged wave of grift targeted two of the government’s most generous emergency initiatives, the Paycheck Protection Program, known as PPP, and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, dubbed EIDL. Started under President Donald Trump — and managed by the beleaguered Small Business Administration — the roughly $1 trillion in loans and grants aimed to help cash-strapped companies stay afloat financially during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

.......SNIP"

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$5.4 billion in covid aid may have gone to firms using suspect Social Security numbers (Original Post) applegrove Jan 2023 OP
Gee, who could've seen this coming? MagickMuffin Jan 2023 #1
These kinds of stories make me sick. CrispyQ Jan 2023 #2
I know right. Right wing can't get enough of rich people making money: applegrove Jan 2023 #5
Kick dalton99a Jan 2023 #3
Inspectors general warn that Trump administration is blocking scrutiny of coronavirus rescue program RandiFan1290 Jan 2023 #4

CrispyQ

(36,226 posts)
2. These kinds of stories make me sick.
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 05:43 PM
Jan 2023

I doubt we'll ever know the entire scope of the grift. People getting huge loans & then being forgiven for them but don't dare suggest we forgive student debt.

applegrove

(118,020 posts)
5. I know right. Right wing can't get enough of rich people making money:
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 06:05 PM
Jan 2023

illegal government grift or on the backs of adullts paying off their student loans over decades. All money must go to them. Look at how they try to destroy Medicare so they can tap into the wealth senior baby boomers want to leave behind for their kids by forcing them all into private healthcare.

RandiFan1290

(6,206 posts)
4. Inspectors general warn that Trump administration is blocking scrutiny of coronavirus rescue program
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 05:59 PM
Jan 2023
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/15/inspector-general-oversight-mnuchin-cares-act/

June 15, 2020

Inspectors general warn that Trump administration is blocking scrutiny of coronavirus rescue program

The Trump administration’s intensifying efforts to block oversight of its coronavirus-related rescue programs are raising new alarms with government watchdogs and lawmakers from both parties amid concerns about the anonymity of companies receiving unprecedented levels of taxpayer funds.

Government watchdogs warned members of Congress last week that previously unknown Trump administration legal decisions could substantially block their ability to oversee more than $1 trillion in spending related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to four congressional committee chairs Thursday, two officials in charge of a new government watchdog entity revealed that the Trump administration had issued legal rulings curtailing independent oversight of Cares Act funding.

The letter surfaced amid growing bipartisan frustration over the administration’s decision not to disclose how it is spending hundreds of billions in aid for businesses. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared to bow to that pressure, saying he would work with Congress on new oversight measures. But some Democrats have said the White House is not taking disclosure requests seriously enough.
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