COVID-19 Relief Lending Faces Scrutiny

In this article, the authors discuss government actions to challenge and recover funds lost to COVID-19 pandemic fraud.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the one of the deadliest acute public health crises in modern history.¹ In response, the U.S. government pumped out trillions of dollars in pandemic relief through loans, grants and other funding. And while these pandemic relief efforts attempted to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic, providing that relief in such a widespread and (largely) unfettered manner came with its own challenges.

In May 2021, the U.S. attorney general established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force (task force) to create a coordinated approach to prosecuting and investigating pandemic-related fraud.² The task force consists of multiple entities within the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Small