Reports

PROVIDENCE – Four individuals in Florida have been arrested and more than $1.2 million dollars in cash has been seized in a wide-ranging, ongoing joint federal and state investigation into a significant number of fraudulent unemployment insurance claims submitted to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (RIDLT), and elsewhere, for benefits funded in part by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act was passed by Congress to assist, among others, individuals whose employment has been impacted by the pandemic.

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s effort to provide oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) relief efforts provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), we reviewed HUD’s communication to renters regarding the eviction moratorium found in Section 4024. The objective of our review was to highlight the progress HUD has made and identify areas for improvement. We found that HUD provided critical information to many of these renters through its website and published guidance. However, we identified several aspects of HUD’s communication to renters on its website and published guidance that could be strengthened. Further, we identified areas of the joint website that could be improved. While the Section 4024 eviction moratorium expired on July 24, 2020, it is still crucial that HUD have clear, complete, and accessible guidance available to help renters at a time when their health and financial stability may be at risk. If HUD maintains up-to-date and easily accessible information for all impacted renters, including information on any new renter protections, it would help to ensure that renters know their rights, maintain housing stability through the pandemic, and avoid homelessness.

A Dallas-area man was charged in an indictment filed Thursday for his alleged participation in a scheme to file fraudulent loan applications seeking approximately $24.8 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

We conducted surveys of GPO’s COVID-19 response and maximum telework status. The report contains our analysis and considerations for GPO Leadership and also contains the raw survey results as an attachment.

A Florida recording artist and a Pennsylvania towing company owner have been charged for their alleged participation in a scheme to file fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $24 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Seattle - A respiratory therapist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Seattle pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to theft of government property, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.