Dubbed the greatest grift in U.S. history, the exploitation of billions of dollars in federal funds earmarked for COVID relief dominated the news cycle as the pandemic dust settled. Thousands of people have since been charged with fraud related to COVID relief funding.
One of those charged, Patrick Walsh, who is serving five and a half years in federal prison, used some of the relief money to buy a private island in Florida, Sweetheart Island.
An Associated Press analysis estimates that nearly 10% of $4.3 trillion the federal government set aside for COVID aid was stolen or wasted.
“We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of the greatest theft of American taxpayer dollars in history,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said.
Earlier this year, Walsh pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in connection with COVID relief after court documents show he submitted 16 fraudulent applications to multiple federally insured financial institutions for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans between April 2020 and January 2021.
However, the defendant’s deceptive acts of diverting millions of dollars in emergency financial assistance from small businesses during the pandemic is simply beyond the pale.
U.S. Attorney Jason R. Coody
Prosecutors said Walsh fraudulently banked nearly $8 million in COVID relief. Walsh’s private island may be one of the more lavish purchases made with stolen relief funds; federal prosecutors said a Massachusetts business owner purchased an Alpaca farm using stolen relief funding.
Walsh is just one on a long list of diverse fraudsters now paying for their actions.
In 2022, Tennessee rapper Nuke Bizzle was sentenced to more than six years in prison after he released a music video bragging that he stole more than $700,000 of COVID unemployment insurance.
Even a former Nigerian state official joined in the rampant fraud; federal prosecutors said the Nigerian resident stole $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits. In September of 2022, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
The United States Justice Department said it has prosecuted more than 3,000 fraudsters and seized more than $1 billion in stolen COVID relief funds.
But the reality is, according to legal experts, the criminal justice system is not equipped to catch all of the widespread fraud that occurred while COVID relief funds were dispersed.
