04.09.2024

US Sen. Gary Peters proposes bill to continue crackdown on pandemic fraud

By: Todd Spangler

The White House announced Tuesday that U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is sponsoring legislation proposed in part by President Joe Biden last year to crack down on fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic aid claims and recoup lost funding while also helping people whose identities were used to falsely request benefits.

The legislation, which Peters, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, is sponsoring, along with Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, was announced as U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland released a report indicating the Justice Department has already criminally charged more than 3,500 defendants and seized more than $1.4 billion in fraudulently obtained funds.

Most of the fraud occurred as part of programs included in a pandemic response bill passed by Congress and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in March 2020, including expanded unemployment benefits, the Paycheck Protection Program and small business loan programs.

The report included as an example of pandemic aid fraud the case of a Detroit man, Robert Lampkin, who this year was sentenced to 15 years in prison for running a methamphetamine ring and, separately, using stolen identities to file millions in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in several states.

"The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the United States government to establish and administer federal relief programs at a size and scope virtually unprecedented in our nation’s history," the Justice Department report said. "And while these relief programs helped to mitigate some of the pandemic’s most devastating effects, theyalso came with a cost."

The report noted that while much has already been done, there are more funds to recover and more criminals to prosecute.

As proposed, the legislation would authorize Congress to provide the Justice Department $300 million to triple the number of teams investigating and prosecuting pandemic aid fraud; raise the cap for civil cases to be pursued against fraudulent claims from $150,000 to $1 million; provide $250 million to the Small Business Administration and Labor Department to identify and recover fraudulent payments and take several other steps to expand programs to prevent payments being made in the names of dead people and enhancing the privacy of individuals' data like names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.

It also provides for testing out an identity theft early warning system and attempts to streamline the process for victims of identity theft to coordinate a response with government agencies. Another $175 million in grants would be made available to help provide legal services and other aid to victims of identity theft.

Meanwhile, another measure, pushed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and ranking Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, would increase the statute of limitation on pursuing claims of unemployment fraud from five to 10 years.