Fraudsters stole more than $200 billion of aid distributed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That eye-popping figure was announced Tuesday in a report from the SBA Office of Inspector General that assessed the SBA's handling of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The report concludes that the SBA "weakened or removed the controls necessary to prevent fraudsters from easily gaining
access to these programs" and that "the allure of 'easy money' in this pay and chase environment attracted an overwhelming number of fraudsters to the programs."
