OPINION:
The latest “shocker” of the COVID relief funding scandal involving tax dollars going toward fraudulent purchases comes from Baltimore, where a pastor admitted he blew $3.5 million of yours and my money on luxury cars, and a home and various retail and grocery items.
But that’s “shocker” in quotation marks. It’s really not surprising at all. Whenever government gets involved in taking tax dollars from one to give to another, the system goes bust. Government is not just a lousy manager of money. Government is totally unconcerned about its lousy money management skills because the members of government are too busy using that money to buy up votes and maintain power.
The second that the COVID relief funds were announced, all the greedy socialist-minded in America went yayyy! — and all the hard-working non-socialist-minded in America groaned at the immediate awareness that fraud was a’ comin’.
Boy, did it come.
“At least $276 billion designated as ‘COVID-19 relief funding’ was lost via ‘fraud’ and ‘waste,’ according to cumulative estimates from the inspectors general of the Labor Department, Treasury Department and Small Business Administration shared … [during] testimony before a House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee in Washington, D.C.,” Breitbart wrote in March of 2023.
And now the headlines are ringing with the government’s recovery of millions.
That’s called Financing 101 to bureaucrats. Lose billions — lose hundreds of billions. Recover millions. Pat self on back for recovering millions. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
“Maryland Man Sentenced For Fraudulently Obtaining More Than $3.5 Million In Covid-19 Cares Act Loans,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland reported a few days ago about the case of the thieving pastor, Rudolph Brooks, 48, of Cheltenham, Maryland.
“The Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Enforcement Task Force 2024 Report: A Continued Commitment to Combatting COVID-19-Related Fraud,” the law firm of Epstein, Becker and Green wrote just this week.
Among the criminal fraud prosecutions of COVID relief fund thefts that have gone forth: a Florida attorney was convicted of fraudulently obtaining nearly $800,000 of loans; the ringleader of a pandemic fraud scheme was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing $6.8 million; an Arkansas business owner pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $16.5 million; a former VA nurse in Virginia was sentenced to 18 years in prison for plotting a $3.5 million theft of COVID unemployment insurance funds in five different states; a defendant in Florida was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for fraudulently receiving more than $7.2 million of COVID-tied loans and using the money to buy cars and a 12-acre estate.
And finally — how about this one? — more than 50 defendants in Minnesota were charged with scheming to fraudulently obtain $250 million of COVID money. On that last — out of Minnesota — it’s none other than Gov. Tim Walz who shares in the blame for failing to properly disburse the federal COVID dollars. He was rewarded by being Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president.
Oh, what a tangled web is woven when government is given charge of Americans’ tax dollars.
The billions and billions and billions of dollars that flowed from hard-working Americans’ pockets to the federal government — which happily printed some more, too; magic money, born by the beauty of fiat currency — and which was then used to pad the pockets of thieves will never be fully recovered.
Rather, the government through their shills in the media will put out release after release and statement after statement and report after report about its recovery of millions — as if that’s meaningful.
“Cracking down on pandemic aid fraud, DOJ claws back,” USA Today wrote in April.
“Feds Have Seized More Than $1.4 Billion From Fraudulent Covid Relief Recipients,” Forbes wrote in April.
That’s the tally after three years. Two-hundred and seventy-six billion lost; $1.4 billion recovered. We’re supposed to cheer?
And then comes this, from The New York Times, also this past April: “More Funding Needed to Prosecute Pandemic Fraud.”
Yep. That’s government. Create the chaos. Use tax dollars to pretend to solve the chaos. Blame failure on the lack of tax dollars, and demand more. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
The government never should have shut down America’s economy during COVID in the first place. But it did, all along dismissing warnings from smart people about the devastating fallout, including the likely fraud that would come from a ridiculous model of paying people to stay home from work.
The words of Ronald Reagan — “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’” — are never more applicable than now. Losing hundreds of billions to theft and recovering a few measly millions does not a success make.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
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