This article highlights how easy it really is to find those who may have committed COVID-19 Relief fraud and several techniques that the government can and probably is using to find those who committed fraud from the pandemic funding programs.
PPP
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Over the last year, we have written extensively at the breadth of fraud associated with the Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Programs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In recent weeks, the US Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a scathing report of the performance of the US SBA during the COVID-19 Pandemic and its attention to fraud during the PPP program. Not only are some small business owners and some lenders to blame for fraud, so is the US Small Business Administration. Clearly, they failed to adequately do their part in preventing fraud, ultimately leading to what some have called the biggest fraud in the history of the United States.
While the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Payroll Protection Programs (PPP) were beneficial for small business owners, as they say, “all good things must come to an end.” What it does not mean is that there are not great options out there for small business owners to take advantage of. We know that traditional bank loans and lines of credit are rarely out there but that does not mean access to financing has to be hard or expensive. In this article, we will share a list of 8 different financing products which are easy to attain, and in some cases will cost you nothing.
From April 2020 to December 2021 over $1.2 Trillion was delivered to small businesses in the form of the Payroll Production Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. While many small business owners benefitted from PPP and EIDL, many small business owners provided information to banks and the SBA which were inaccurate and in many cases, purposely fraudulent. This article reviews current oversight efforts and actions by the Department of Justice for those who submitted inaccurate or fraudulent information to get funded. We highlight several cases where small business owners committed fraud.