KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Justice Department and Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Monday that a summer crackdown on COVID-era loan fraud produced enforcement actions against more than 160 defendants tied to approximately $245 million in intended losses to taxpayers.
Ahead of the presser, Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and Colin McDonald of the Fraud Task Force held a roundtable with their partners at an FBI facility in Kansas City.
During the post-roundtable press conference Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan asked Vice President JD Vance whether the administration had reason to believe officials in the Biden administration knew about widespread Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud — and whether the federal fraud task force would investigate them.
“That’s a great question, and certainly the fraud task force is looking into that,” Vance responded. He then said officials during the Biden administration were aware of the fraud. “This stuff was going on. Of course, they did. It was an open secret,” Vance said, pointing to conversations he said he had with state officials during 2022 and 2023.
Vance specifically recalled speaking with then-Ohio Lieutenant Governor John Husted, now a U.S. senator, whom he said was “exasperated” that the federal government was not taking the fraud more seriously.
“Everybody knew people were skimming off the top,” Vance said. “Absolutely, we need to be looking into the officials who are turning a blind eye to this stuff,” Vance concluded.
He framed the investigation as part of a broader effort to restore public confidence in government spending. “If you’re a taxpayer and you write a check to the government and you have no confidence that the federal government is going to protect your money, why do you pay taxes at all?” Vance said.
The announcement, dubbed “Operation No Doze,” represents the Justice Department’s latest effort to pursue fraud stemming from the massive emergency loan programs created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the roundtable, the Trump administration officials impressed upon their counterparts that they are deadly serious about stopping fraud around the United States, and they shared their excitement at achieving such startling results.
“The cavalry is here,” McDonald told the room.
Between June 12 and September 1, federal prosecutors and investigators obtained felony charges against nearly 80 defendants accused of causing approximately $100 million in intended losses. Another roughly 43 defendants pleaded guilty in COVID-related SBA fraud cases involving approximately $44 million in intended losses, while approximately 40 defendants were sentenced in cases involving nearly $100 million in intended losses.
Altogether, the summer enforcement surge involved more than 160 criminal defendants and approximately $245 million in intended losses, according to the Justice Department. But the administration announced another number Monday that dwarfs the criminal cases: roughly 870,000 borrowers are being suspended from future access to SBA loans over suspected
fraudulent activity.
Vance appeared alongside the roundtable members for the press conference in which he announced the government would no longer allow people suspected of defrauding federal programs to continue receiving government-backed loans.
“If you screwed the American taxpayer, the federal government is now going to say you’re cut off, no more,” Vance said. Vance added that the PPP was created during the first Trump administration to keep small businesses operating and workers employed during the pandemic, but argued that people subsequently exploited the program.
“If you were caught stealing from the American taxpayer, you shouldn’t be able to benefit from these loans anymore,” Vance said.
The SBA said the 870,000 suspended borrowers are tied to approximately $39 billion in suspected fraudulent PPP and COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan activity. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the agency is also sending demand letters to suspected fraudsters and referring debts to the Treasury Department for collection.
The Justice Department’s announcement came with several examples of the alleged schemes investigators uncovered. In one case, prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri charged Jamie Gray with allegedly attempting to obtain more than $55 million through hundreds of fraudulent loan applications. Prosecutors say Gray claimed to own dozens of businesses that existed before the pandemic, even though nearly all of them allegedly did not exist.
One purported business, called Fur Lives Matter, did exist, prosecutors said. But people who actually worked there allegedly told investigators they had never heard of Gray. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the cases announced Monday represent only part of the federal government’s broader effort. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who was among the elected officials leading the round table, emphasized the taxpayer cost of fraud.
“Fraud is not a victimless bookkeeping problem — it is organized theft on a national scale, and hardworking Americans continue to pay the price,” Schmitt said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “Every dollar stolen from the government came from an American taxpayer.”
The State Financial Officers Foundation, which represents state treasurers, auditors and comptrollers, was among the groups participating in the effort. SFOF CEO O.J. Oleka said the Kansas City gathering demonstrated the importance of cooperation between state and federal officials in pursuing taxpayer fraud. “State financial officers, the most trusted elected officials in
our country, are proud to be fighting on the frontlines each day to expose waste, fraud, and abuse against taxpayers,” Oleka said in a statement obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire.
The administration’s announcement comes more than five years after the federal government launched the emergency pandemic loan programs. The Paycheck Protection Program ultimately provided hundreds of billions of dollars to businesses during the pandemic, while the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program provided additional assistance to businesses affected by the economic disruption.
The scale of the programs also created an enormous target for fraudsters. The Government Accountability Office has previously found substantial problems with pandemic-relief fraud referrals, including incomplete, incorrect and duplicate information that complicated efforts to investigate suspected fraud.
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