Reports

In June 2024, at our request, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) found and provided us 36 matches for U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) employees who were connected to federal government pandemic relief loans. Pursuant to the commitment of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to fostering and promoting accountability and integrity in government, we undertook an investigation into the 36 matches to determine the appropriateness of these employees receiving pandemic relief loans. Specifically, we sought to detect fraud in these pandemic relief loans.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) administers Mississippi’s unemployment benefits programs. With the influx of jobless claims and COVID relief aid as a result of the pandemic, total unemployment benefit claims increased from $59.6 million in FY 2019 to $2.1 billion in FY 2020. With this infusion of money came massive fraud and misspending. For example, from FY 2020 to FY 2021, known overpayments increased from $118 million to $474 million. The massive loss of money from Mississippi’s unemployment fund is partially the result of MDES bypassing or altering their own...

The audit found the agency had significant issues implementing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The agency did not sufficiently review CARES invoices due to changing guidelines, reduced contract oversight staffing during the pandemic, overreliance on contractor-provided information, and the lack of clear and comprehensive Contracting Officer Representative (COR) oversight procedures for CARES invoices. As a result, the OIG questioned more than $16.4 million, or 40 percent of the sampled CARES invoice charges. As of June 8, 2021, NSA reported $917 million in CARES...