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Mississippi Office of the State Auditor

Mississippi’s Historic Unemployment Fraud

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) administers Mississippi’s unemployment benefits programs. With the influx of jobless claims and COVID relief aid as a result of the pandemic, total unemployment benefit claims increased from $59.6 million in FY 2019 to $2.1 billion in FY 2020. With this infusion of money came massive fraud and misspending. For example, from FY 2020 to FY 2021, known overpayments increased from $118 million to $474 million. The massive loss of money from Mississippi’s unemployment fund is partially the result of MDES bypassing or altering their own...
Louisiana Legislative Auditor

Investigative Audit: Department of Education and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

From May 21, 2021 to November 9, 2021, the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) paid $486,050 on two emergency contracts without first obtaining the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (BESE’s) approval. The Louisiana Administrative Code requires that professional and consulting services contracts recommended by the Superintendent of Education at, or above, a certain amount (currently $50,000) be approved by BESE. By paying contractors for professional and consulting services prior to obtaining BESE’s approval, DOE may have violated a provision of the Louisiana...
Washington Office of the State Auditor

Fraud Investigation Report: Employment Security Department

On October 27, 2020, the Employment Security Department (ESD) notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds, as required by state law. Our investigation determined a misappropriation of unemployment insurance benefit funds occurred at ESD, totaling $315,282, and that ESD made an additional $121,503 in questionable payments related to this situation between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. ESD also referred the case to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for investigation.
New York Office of the State Comptroller

Enterprise Fraud, Waste and Abuse Prevention and Detection: Annual Report to the New York State Legislature

The COVID-19 pandemic drove the Office of the New York State Comptroller to move forward creatively and identify new ways to tap into and analyze data. Auditors and examiners pursued increased data analysis and used a wider variety of data sources in audit planning and risk assessment, including the Statewide Financial System, First New York data warehouse, New York Benefits Eligibility and Accounting System, CVS Health, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, as well as internal State agency data.
Iowa Office of the Auditor of State

Auditor Sand Advises Governmental Entities to be Wary of Fake Unemployment Claims

This notification was an advisory notice for representatives of all governmental entities to carefully verify information received in an any correspondence received from IWD regarding claims for unemployment insurance benefits, as unknown parties are attempting to file fraudulent unemployment insurance claims as if they were former employees of certain governmental entities.
West Virginia Legislative Auditor's Office

Special Report: Workforce West Virginia Unemployment Claims Data

The objective of this report was to provide information on the unprecedented number of unemployment claims filed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount paid in fraudulent claims, and the causes for many fraudulent claims being paid. We found that WorkForce West Virginia Paid Nearly $83 Million in Fraudulent Unemployment Claims During the COVID-19 Pandemic.