DOJ IG: Decision Was Made with COVID Funding to ‘Chase’ Fraud Later, We Paid Loans to People on ‘Do Not Pay List’

During a portion of an interview with the Fox News Channel released on Monday, Department of Justice Inspector General and Chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Michael Horowitz stated that there was “a conscious decision” made with the distribution of coronavirus relief funds to undertake the unacceptable model that “we’re going to get the money out, and if there’s fraud, you’ll chase it later.” And that “basic steps” to verify the identity of those who received money were not taken and one result of this was that 57,000 loans were paid to people who were on the Treasury Department’s Do Not Pay list.

Horowitz said, “I think that people made a conscious decision, we’re going to get the money out, and if there’s fraud, you’ll chase it later. And that’s just not an acceptable model.”

Horowitz also stated, “What we found was that basic steps to determine identity weren’t undertaken. Second, the Treasury Department has a Do Not Pay system. Well, it turned out 57,000 loans were paid out in those first few weeks to individuals who are on the Do Not Pay list. Third, check against the deceased individuals list that the Social Security Administration keeps.”

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