A House panel led by Republicans is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to release information about COVID-19 relief funds that were lost to fraud. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic sent a letter to Garland requesting documents and communications related to the amount of relief funds lost due to fraud by foreign actors and criminal organizations. A recent estimate from the Labor Department found that nearly 40% of pandemic unemployment payments were fraudulent or unsupported, totaling around $47.3 billion out of $131.6 billion. The Small Business Administration’s inspector general also reported that up to $200 billion was stolen from its programs, excluding unemployment relief.
