The Department of Justice (DOJ) is carrying out enforcement actions on behalf of Vice President JD Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud relating to millions of dollars in alleged COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) fraud, Breitbart News has learned.
The actions will be announced at a press conference Thursday morning in Ohio.
A source familiar with the matter tells Breitbart News that an alleged fraudster has already entered a guilty plea in one case. In another case, three defendants have turned themselves in to authorities, while a fourth individual has been arrested in Georgia.
The defendants allegedly submitted fraudulent applications to obtain millions of dollars in PPP and EIDL loans for themselves and others, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The alleged fraudsters used falsified documents, such as payroll and tax forms, and falsified information about purported businesses, with the conspiracies totaling a combined $7 million in fraud, a source tells Breitbart News.
“As we continue to uncover millions of dollars in PPP and COVID-era fraud, it has become clear that there was a shocking lack of safeguards around these programs,” a Vance spokesperson told Breitbart News. “With the task force driving forward, the days of sending money into the hands of criminals are over.”
Officials expected at the press conference include Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Fraud Division Colin McDonald, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who serves as the task force’s vice chairman under Vance, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Suspected fraudulent PPP and EIDL loans have been a key focus for the task force, which has implemented a whole-of-government approach to root out fraud since its inception in March.
The SBA flagged $22 billion in COVID-era loans suspected of being fraudulent to the Treasury Department in April, as Fox Digital first reported.
“Last week, SBA sent over 560,000 PPP and EIDL borrowers to Treasury for collections on $22 billion in delinquent and suspected fraudulent loans – the largest debt referral in agency HISTORY,” Loeffler said in a statement at the time.
“The White House Anti-Fraud Task Force is moving at Trump speed to hold fraudsters accountable and claw back every dollar stolen from American taxpayers,” she added.
