Five Cook County employees defrauded the federal COVID-19 relief program of more than $240,000, falsely claiming they owned companies that struggled during the pandemic, the county inspector general’s office said in a report Friday.
Over the past year, 20 other county workers also were suspected of defrauding the federal Paycheck Protection Program, accoring to interim Inspector General Steven Cyranoski. They include three high-ranking county officials, including one in the county’s human resources office, a payroll supervisor in the comptroller’s office and a director in the health department, according to Cyranoski.
