President Biden Vows To Appoint Federal Prosecutor To Investigate Billions In Pandemic Fraud
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Tuesday night, during the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden vowed to appoint a federal prosecutor to investigate and try to rein in billions of dollars in pandemic fraud. Some have called it the largest fraud in history.
KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan was first to report billions of dollars in theft from Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation system and on Wednesday asked Gov. Tom Wolf what's being done about it.
The state concedes $6 billion in federal and state unemployment assistance has been stolen from Pennsylvania during the two years of the pandemic.
Cyberthieves, primarily those from overseas, targeted Pennsylvania's unemployment system, and the state Department of Labor and Industry puts the losses at $6 billion dollars, a figure that seemed to surprise the governor.
Wolf: "That's all across the country, right?"
Sheehan: "No, no, no. That's in Pennsylvania."
No state unemployment system has been immune. The cyberthieves have hit every one, and estimates of the unemployment relief fraud are now approaching $200 billion nationwide. At the state of the union, President Biden vowed to take steps to rein in this and other types of pandemic relief fraud.
"How much money was being spent? Was it going to the right place? In my administration, the watchdogs are back. We're gonna go after the criminals who stole billions of relief money meant for small businesses and millions of Americans. And tonight I'm announcing that the Justice Department will soon name a chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud," Biden said.
Just this week, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the state $6 million dollars to confront fraud, but the governor concedes more needs to be done.
