Law Brief: CARES Act Relief for Small Businesses
Monthly Minute | Financial Relief for COVID-19
Since the pandemic, COVID-19-related fraud has been a consistent target of the Department of Justice....more
On April 9, 2024, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report on the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force (“Task Force”), by far DOJ’s most comprehensive review of the Task Force since its creation in...more
Cooperation Spares Former NBA Shooting Guard From Prison - Former National Basketball Association (NBA) shooting guard, Antoine Wright, was sentenced to time served after he pled guilty to conspiracy and aggravated...more
The Department of Justice continues to have its task forces throughout the U.S. investigate and prosecute fraudulent use of funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs...more
The following is a summary of selected federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports of fraud and abuse enforcement activity across the country. The enforcement actions reported...more
On August 23, 2023, DOJ announced that its latest coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 relief fraud has resulted in 718 enforcement actions, including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants,...more
On March 2, 2023, the White House announced that President Biden intends to ask Congress for $1.6 Billion to combat ongoing fraud related to COVID relief programs, referred to as “pandemic fraud.” This comes in the wake of...more
Guilty Plea in $250 Million Federal Child Nutrition Fund Fraud Scheme - A man from Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pled guilty for his involvement in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally-funded...more
Medical Device Company to Pay Over $700,000 To Resolve Criminal Allegations - On January 4, 2023, a criminal information was filed in the Southern District of Illinois, in which Jet Medical Inc. (Jet), a medical device...more
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James E. Clyburn, released the final report on its investigation into the use and distribution of $5 trillion in federal pandemic-related aid,...more
Modernizing Medicine to Pay $45 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations - Modernizing Medicine Inc. (ModMed), a Florida-based electronic health record (EHR) technology vendor, has agreed to pay $45 million to...more
The Justice Department recently announced new charges, convictions and sentencings in its ongoing initiative to target pandemic-related fraud, emphasizing the government’s commitment to identify and hold accountable those who...more
In a press release issued on September 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced additional enhancements to its initiative to combat COVID-19 related fraud. Expanding on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s...more
COVID-19 Fraud Update: DOJ Prosecutes More than 150 Defendants, 95 Criminal Cases - Since the inception of the CARES Act, DOJ’s Fraud Section has prosecuted over 150 defendants in over 95 criminal cases. The Fraud Section...more
In August, President Biden signed two bills into law that give the Department of Justice and other federal agencies more time to investigate and prosecute Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and COVID-19 Economic Injury...more
Two weeks ago, President Biden signed two laws extending the statute of limitations for civil and criminal fraud actions involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to ten years....more
On August 5, President Biden signed two bills into law that extend to ten years the statute of limitations for civil and criminal enforcement actions for fraud on the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and Economic Injury...more
As early as April 5, 2020, we warned independent schools that accepting COVID stimulus cash in the form of loans could put you on the hook to comply with several federal laws you might not be familiar with, including Title...more
As everyone who has been tracking the COVID-19 relief programs since 2020 knows, at the outset there was massive confusion about the programs’ requirements as well as fear that funding could run out before businesses with...more
Vanessa R. Waldref, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, recently announced the creation of a new interagency COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force to combat alleged fraud arising from the pandemic. One of its...more
On March 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the appointment of Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers to serve as the Director for DOJ’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force. In remarks...more
On the eve of the pandemic’s two-year anniversary, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released updated statistics on its efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud and announced the appointment of a director of COVID-19 Fraud...more
Takeaway: Be prepared for the continued aggressive investigation and prosecution of white-collar pandemic relief fraud to continue in 2022 as a new Director has been appointed for the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force. ...more
Travel back in time to the Spring of 2020: people are searching for toilet paper and spraying down their groceries with Lysol. In addition, lenders are tackling the new loan programs created under the CARES Act. Lenders are...more
The U.S. Department of Justice has recently begun charging defendants with bank fraud in relation to Paycheck Protection Program loans as part of its continuing efforts to investigate and prosecute individuals for crimes...more