{"id":17808,"date":"2022-12-01T22:53:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T03:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=17808"},"modified":"2022-12-02T14:05:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T19:05:55","slug":"new-york-post-congress-shocked-at-the-covid-fraud-it-created","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/01\/new-york-post-congress-shocked-at-the-covid-fraud-it-created\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Post: Congress Shocked at the Covid Fraud It Created"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Post, December 2, 2022<\/h3>\n

Congress is shocked, shocked by the COVID fraud it created<\/a><\/h1>\n
\n
By James Bovard<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Like Captain Renault in the gambling casino in \u201cCasablanca,\u201d congressmen are \u201cshocked, shocked\u201d by all the fraud spawned by the trillions of dollars in COVID handouts<\/a> they approved.<\/p>\n

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis issued a report<\/a> Thursday blaming fintech firms for the pilfering of Paycheck Protection Program loans that began in 2020. But the real fraud is the illusion that members of Congress give a damn about plundering American taxpayers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PPP was enacted in March 2020 and eventually provided $800 billion in loans to more than 11 million businesses. Congress designed the program to carpet-bomb the nation with federal tax dollars.<\/p>\n

The Small Business Administration, which administered the plan, effectively told people, \u201cApply and sign and tell us that you\u2019re really entitled to the money,\u201d said Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. He testified PPP was an invitation to fraudsters<\/a> because there weren\u2019t \u201ceven minimal checks to make sure that the money was getting to the right people at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government investigators estimate up to $100 billion in PPP loans was fraudulent<\/a>. The feds gave 342 people who said their name was \u201cN\/A\u201d PPP loans. Dozens of New York City and New York state employees were arrested this week for their role in a multimillion-dollar PPP fraud scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After 15 Illinois jailbirds used PPP loans<\/a> to pay their bail, cynics scoffed that the program should be named the Prisoner Paycheck Program. In Florida, a PPP loan was used to bankroll a murder-for-hire plot<\/a> that left a Transportation Security Administration agent dead.<\/p>\n

Happily, a scapegoat has been found. According to the new congressional report, the problem was that the financial-technology companies (fintechs) that handled PPP-claims applications failed to show due diligence. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the select subcommittee\u2019s chairman, declared that \u201cmany fintechs \u2026 refused to take adequate steps<\/a> to detect and prevent fraud despite their clear responsibility to safeguard taxpayer funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

PPPs were a typical legislative monstrosity where the profits were privatized while taxpayers suffered the losses. Some fintechs shamelessly exploited a reckless program and received hefty fees based on the loans they approved.<\/p>\n