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The North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office, a division of the Office of State Budget and Management, did not adequately monitor $159.9 million in federal funds used for expenditures incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Auditors reviewed the monitoring procedures over subrecipients of state agencies that expended coronavirus relief funds. The office's monitoring procedures required monthly reviews of these subrecipients’ expenditure reports. However, auditors found no evidence of this review. Inadequate monitoring increases the risk that federal funds may not be used in accordance with the...

CINCINNATI – Federal agents arrested nine individuals for crimes relating to a conspiracy to buy firearms online and have them shipped to Cincinnati-area federal firearms licensees (FFLs). It is alleged that more than 70 firearms were bought with stolen credit card information and picked up, or attempted to be picked up, at local FFLs via straw purchases that hid the identity of the true buyer. Several of the defendants are also charged with COVID-relief crimes totaling more than $120,000 in alleged loss.

The Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 18 defendants in nine federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving health care services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly resulted in over $490 million in COVID-19 related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally funded pandemic programs.

A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, man has admitted to operating a multi-state organized drug trafficking business dubbed the “19th Street Enterprise.” Christopher Arthur Jones, also known as “Smooth,” pled guilty today to a racketeering enterprise (RICO) conspiracy and fentanyl distribution charges.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in demand for ventilators and provoked concerns about potential supply shortages across VA medical facilities. During the course of a previous broader review, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) uncovered a potential issue with the number of ventilators procured and stored at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and sought to determine whether they had been properly requested, acquired, received, and accounted for.The OIG found the facility acquired more ventilators from March 1, 2020, through November 30, 2021, than...

Alert Memorandum:Closure of Participating MainStreet Lending Program Bank

In FY 2021-22, state agencies administered $20.2 billion in federal financial assistance, including $5.9 billion that was expended related to the public health emergency and that was separately identified in the State’s Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. Our audit focused on 22 federal programs that accounted for 58.9 percent of the federal financial assistance administered. We provided an unmodified opinion on federal compliance for 21 of the programs we reviewed. However, we again qualified our opinion on compliance for certain requirements related to the Emergency Rental Assistance...

In our Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit, we identified, among other things, that during fiscal year 2021, Kitsap County spent $8,109,337 and $4,695,965 in CRF and ERA program funds, respectively. To fulfill components of both programs’ objectives, the County passed $6,548,816 in CRF and $4,664,258 in ERA funds through to subrecipients to provide emergency rental assistance to eligible households. The subrecipients were responsible for determining which households were eligible to receive funds and then providing assistance to them. The County requested and obtained supporting...

In our Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit, we identified, among other things, that Douglas County did not have adequate internal controls to ensure it used Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program funds for allowable purposes and for costs incurred within the period of performance. Douglas County charged $276,530 in unallowable costs to the SLFRF program for road project costs that were incurred outside of the period of performance. As a result, we are questioning these costs.

In our Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit, we identified, among other things, that Island County spent $2,656,126 in CRF program funds during fiscal 2021, and passed $1,156,108 of these funds to two subrecipients who operated assistance programs. Island County also spent $2,681,211 in ERA funds during fiscal year 2021, and passed $2,638,164 of these funds to four subrecipients to provide emergency rental assistance to eligible households. Island County did not have adequate internal controls for ensuring it included all subaward information in two new subrecipient contracts for the...

This informational brief describes changes to the Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including how COVID-19 impacted participation, benefit amounts, and program administration. This brief is intended to provide timely information related to an area of interest to the legislature or based on a legislative request. Among other findings, this brief highlights that the number of SNAP recipients increased 27.5%, from 769,768 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020 to a high of 981,751 in January 2021. According to DCFS, the increase...

CINCINNATI– A man who filed for relief under the Paycheck Protection Program and fraudulently claimed that he was running a business during the time he was incarcerated pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to one count of wire fraud.