US Sent Nearly $5.5Bln Of COVID-19 Loans To Over 69,000 Shady Recipients - Watchdog

Sumaira FH Published January 31, 2023 | 02:20 AM

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) said on Monday that it has found that nearly $5.5 billion worth of COVID-19 pandemic loans were sent to more than 69,000 shady social security numbers.

"This Fraud Alert from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) identifies 69,323 questionable social security numbers (SSNs) used to obtain $5.4 billion from the Small business Administration's (SBA) COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID-19 EIDL) program and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)," PRAC said in a new report on Monday.

PRAC analyzed information from over 33 million COVID-19 EIDL and PPP applications and found that $5.4 billion was disbursed between April 2020 and October 2022, the report said.

On top of the social security numbers that managed to obtain the disbursements, PRAC identified another 175,768 of them that were used in COVID-19 EIDL or PPP applications that did not get any funds, the report said.

During its investigation, PRAC determined that a total of 221,427 SSNs, used on applications for EIDL and/or PPP, were either not issued by SSA or that identifying information in SSA's records did not match the name or date of birth information provided by the COVID-19 EIDL or PPP application, the report added.

SBA disbursed nearly $1.2 trillion in assistance to small businesses and their employees affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.