The U.S. Attorney's office in St. Louis pursuing dozens of cases involving pandemic relief fraud, including some where people stole money that was supposed to feed children.
listen live to kmox
White Collar Crime Supervisor Gwen Carrol says since the start of the year here, they've opened 83 cases into pandemic relief fraud, including half a dozen with people who got money to feed hungry children, but didn't. "I would tell your listeners to stay tuned, because they are likely to see a fair amount of people who were supposed to feed children and instead did things like buy houses." Carrol says people applied for subsidies under the Department of Agriculture, funded by the CARES Act. "Beginning of March 2020, schools were no longer open. Kids who relied on schools for nutrition, weren't getting it, and the Department of Agriculture saw that problem and thought we need to make food available to children who are no longer getting access to it, and people saw that opportunity and exploited it."
Other types of covid relief scams under investigation here include businesses that got payroll money that wasn't given to employees, or housing assistance fraud--people pretending to be landlords or tenants to get the money and run.
Of the 83 covid relief scam cases opened here this year, Carrol says about 15 so far have resulted in convictions.
@2023 Audacy (KMOX). All rights reserved.