Secret Service: Nearly $100B Stolen in Pandemic Relief Funds

Associated PressPublished: December 22, 2021

FILE PHOTO: BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 4: Artworks hang on the wall as medical workers take throat swab samples from people seeking a rapid antigen tests at a Covid-19 testing station set up at the temporarily closed DNA art gallery during the coronavirus pandemic on February 4, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. Covid testing stations have sprung up in a variety of perhaps unexpected places in Berlin, including the DNA gallery, a fashion store, a church and a bar, among others. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT, Associated Press

The U.S. Secret Service says nearly $100 billion has been stolen from COVID-19 relief programs set up to help businesses and people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

The staggering sum represents but a small percentage, less than 3%, of pandemic benefits program funds.

The estimate is based on Secret Service cases and data from the Labor Department and the Small Business Administration.

It doesn't include cases handled by the Justice Department.

Roy Dotson is the national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator for the Secret Service. He says his agency has more than 900 active criminal investigations into pandemic fraud.

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