You may think the Covid nightmare is behind us—but in terms of financial cost, we’ll be paying the price indefinitely. One toll comes in the form of the staggering amount of Covid relief fraud: $300 billion tax dollars stolen by con artists. Mikenzie Frost reports.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

More than five years after the first Covid lockdown, Covid-fraud cases continue to rack up.

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: This was an opportunity that was maybe too good to pass up for a lot of criminals.

The Department of Justice has charged more than 3,000 people, businesses, and entities with fraud-related Covid crimes. Sean Green is a lead prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maine. He says his office has prosecuted about 15 Covid fraud cases.

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: The most common programs where we saw the fraud were in Paycheck Protection Programs.

Mikenzie Frost: Does one stick out to you in particular?

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: A gentleman named Mark Haley. He had applied for roughly $1.5 million worth of PPP funds. He succeeded in getting just over a million dollars. He did this by filing a number of false applications. He did not have real businesses. He did not have employees. But his applications, of course, said what they needed to say to obtain the money. He was convicted by guilty plea. He was sentenced to a term of 18 months in prison and, of course, ordered to pay restitution for the full amount of the fraud.

Some fraudsters don’t act alone. The Government Accountability Office finds 46% of people convicted of Covid-related fraud were charged with conspiracy—“suggesting involvement of an organized group.”

Tyree Jones is an example.

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: What Mr. Jones did is he went around New England—particularly Maine and New Hampshire—recruiting people he knew, saying essentially, “Hey, I can get you money from the government. All I need from you is your Social Security number, some of your personal identifiers, give me your bank account information.” The catch, of course, is this: when the money shows up, I need you to give me $10,000.

Jones pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, and ordered to pay nearly $360,000 in restitution. Some took it even further—masterminding the largest Covid fraud case in the country.

KARE News: We’re following some breaking news right now. In the last hour, a jury has found the ringleaders of the largest pandemic aid scam in the country guilty on all charges.

In Minnesota, 47 people faced charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery. The DOJ says the fraudsters got nearly $250 million taxpayer dollars meant to feed needy children—and instead enriched themselves.

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: Fortunately, legally, the statute of limitations has been extended to deal with two areas—particularly the Paycheck Protection Program fraud that I mentioned a moment ago, but also Economic Injury Disaster Loans.

Mikenzie Frost: What do you think motivated these criminals?

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: Opportunity and greed—the same thing that motivates anyone for any financial crime, I suppose. More than once in a generation, a disaster creates a need for money to go out immediately. The application process was not particularly difficult. The applications were submitted online, to third-party lenders who would underwrite and issue the loans, and they were fully backed and guaranteed by the SBA—the Small Business Administration. So the money went out rather quickly, with limited scrutiny.

Mikenzie Frost: Are these people who are computer whizzes, or are they average Joes?

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: The cases we’ve had have certainly not been criminal masterminds. These were internet portals where people could type in information, provide some false substantiation—something that could be done just by doctoring basic documents. They really weren’t very sophisticated crimes.

Mikenzie Frost: Because we are five years out from the start of the pandemic, and some people may be sitting at home thinking they got away with this, what’s your message to them?

Sean Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney: My message is we’re still on it. We’re still working it. When we have the evidence and we can convict people of these crimes, we do—and we will.

In all, investigators say fraudsters managed to get their hands on $300 billion in Covid assistance—and the public may never know the full scope of the scams.

For Full Measure, Mikenzie Frost in Portland, Maine.

Watch video here.