Prosecutors, watchdogs want more time to prosecute pandemic fraud

Criminals made off with billions of dollars that lawmakers made available for pandemic unemployment insurance.

Government officials are now warning lawmakers that they are running out of time to prosecute those who stole it.

Larry Turner, the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Labor, again asked lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee to pass legislation to extend the statute of limitations on unemployment fraud during the pandemic.

The statute of limitations for unemployment fraud will begin to expire in early 2025 without action from Congress, Turner said.

"Unemployment insurance crimes often include complex schemes that require significant resources and time to investigate," he said.

Turner said Congress should extend the statute of limitations from five years to 10 years.

Congress previously extended the statute of limitations for other types of pandemic fraud, including the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

"Extending the statute of limitations for fraud associated with pandemic-related UI programs will help ensure investigators and prosecutors have time to effectively pursue and hold accountable those groups and individuals that targeted and defrauded the program, and that they do not escape justice," said Michael Horowitz, chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General's unemployment fraud investigations resulted in more than 1,200 indictments or initial charges from April 2020 through January 2023.

Each week that office continues to open more than 100 new unemployment insurance fraud-related investigative matters, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Turner on Wednesday told the committee that of the more than $888 billion in total federal and state unemployment insurance benefits distributed during the pandemic at least $191 billion could have been improper payments, "with a significant portion attributable to fraud." Turner told members of the House Ways and Means Committee during a hearing. That's up from a previous estimate of $163 billion.