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Jackson, Miss. – A Pearl woman pled guilty to carrying out a scheme to defraud the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Jackson, Miss. – A Texas man was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for illegally obtaining more than $400,000 in government benefits.

Jackson, Miss. – A Texas man pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining more than $400,000 in COVID-19 economic assistance loans.

Jackson, Miss. – A Texas man pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining more than $400,000 in COVID-19 economic assistance loans.

Jackson, Miss. – A Jackson man pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with his submission of a false COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) application.

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...

The Justice Department announced today the results of a coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718 enforcement actions – including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants – for offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud.

This Single Audit identifies federal funds spent by state agencies from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. During this time, many state agencies were drawing down federal stimulus dollars from the Coronavirus Relief Fund. In this audit millions of questioned costs were discovered. Notable findings include that the Mississippi Department of Employment Security saw a 301 percent increase in known overpayments from the previous year and made at least $473 million in improper or fraudulent unemployment payments this year. This included unemployment payments to prisoners and people outside of...

Gulfport, Miss. – A Kiln, Mississippi man pled guilty to wire fraud related to the COVID pandemic.

A Mississippi businessman was charged with defrauding the United States and other health care providers in a $1.8 million scheme related to acquiring and hoarding personal protective equipment (PPE) and price gouging health care providers, including numerous U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals in critical need of PPE.