In 2022, the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor (OEIG) initiated a large-scale fraud investigation project, to examine whether State of Illinois employees improperly obtained federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. PPP loans were issued to provide relief to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and were eligible for forgiveness if used for qualifying expenses.
Using publicly available information, the OEIG identified PPP loans obtained by individuals with personal identifiers matching those of employees under the OEIG’s jurisdiction. Because a preliminary review of the data revealed a large number of such loans, the OEIG initially focused the investigation on PPP loans of approximately $20,000 or more. In order to be eligible for a PPP loan of that size, a business typically would have needed to generate approximately $100,000 or more of annual net profit or gross income—earned outside of the employee’s full-time State work hours. Once the OEIG identified these PPP loans, the OEIG conducted further investigation to determine whether employees received those loans in a fraudulent manner.
To date, the OEIG has conducted the following investigative activity since beginning its PPP investigation project:
As of 9/12/23
- PPP investigations initiated: 438
PPP investigations concluded: 204
PPP referrals to any law enforcement agency 177
The State of Illinois Code of Personal Conduct requires State employees to conduct themselves “with integrity and in a manner that reflects favorably upon the State.” In addition, various agency policies prohibit employees from engaging in conduct that is unbecoming of a State employee. In 177 cases to date, the OEIG determined that there was reasonable cause to believe that a State employee violated the State of Illinois Code of Personal Conduct and/or agency policy by obtaining PPP loans based on falsified information. The OEIG has, so far, issued these founded reports to the employing State agencies, as indicated below:
To date, the improper loans identified in these founded reports total more than $4.5 million in public funds. The OEIG’s PPP investigation project remains ongoing. These numbers do not reflect a final total of OEIG founded reports or a final total for any particular agency.
State employees are expected to maintain the public’s trust and confidence, and misappropriating public funds is far from acting with integrity, or conducting oneself in a manner that reflects favorably upon the State. Acting in such a manner may result in the loss of employment. Employees also are reminded of their duty to cooperate with OEIG investigations, and that failure to cooperate can also be grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal.
That DHS leads the list is no surprise, but it is striking that Corrections isn’t there at all. Lots of employees and a substellar reputation, but none of them took this money?
Comment by Socially DIstant watcher Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:03 pm
wonderin’ if this means IL is the leading state?
Comment by Annonin' Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:05 pm
Not likely that Illinois is leading. It’s a nationwide problem.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/12/unemployment-fraud-covid-aid-report/
Comment by very old soil Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:12 pm
Assuming the 177 came out of the 204, that means only 27 people had a secondary employment form that matched up to what was on the PPP list. Also, looks like 234 more cases are being looked at. If the percentage holds, that’s a whole lot more state workers being shown the door.
Comment by DHS Drone Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:28 pm
=== that means only 27 people had a secondary employment form that matched up to what was on the PPP list. ===
Or that the individuals originally identified had common names with others that obtained the loans.
Comment by Hannibal Lecter Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:33 pm
PPP database gives home addresses which the state has. If the name and address match, the state can look up your secondary employment form. If you got a job on the PPP list that isn’t on that form, you got some explaining to do.
Comment by DHS Drone Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:34 pm
I am very glad the state is doing this. At some point in time the private sector also needs checking (pretty well all PPP loans should be re-examined now that there is time.) I don’t like fraudsters. And these fraudsters were trying to take advantage of disaster funds. I hope they all get prosecuted.
Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:50 pm
is there a list for private business violators?
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:50 pm
Is it just me, or are the top six agencies all under Sol Flores?
Comment by Marco Polo Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:51 pm
Another black eye for IDHS - June OIG report about abuse and neglect at Choate and now 132 IDHS employees scamming PPP. Fix that Dept ASAP.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:51 pm
@Socially DIstant Watcher
===That DHS leads the list is no surprise, but it is striking that Corrections isn’t there at all. Lots of employees and a substellar reputation, but none of them took this money? ===
Oh, it’s coming, just wait. Lots of them.
Comment by Nagidam Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 3:57 pm
Employee count isn’t equal across all agencies… DHS employs a lot of people and would likely have the most offenders as they have a large population. But that said, this is still very disturbing in a lot of ways. This is stealing federal money because you can… kiss those pensions good bye!
Comment by Lincoln Lad Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 4:18 pm
When is the US House GOP going after the private sector PPP fraudsters–that was one of their promises, until they saw the list
!
Comment by ANON Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 4:30 pm
I don’t get this particular form of graft. Was there some sort of dark web APB to government employees that this was an easy score?
Comment by Jet Sweep Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 4:38 pm
===to government employees===
I’m sure it’s far more widespread than that, but it’s just easier I think for state and local governments to catch these folks.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 4:46 pm
=== Was there some sort of dark web APB to government employees that this was an easy score? ===
It wasn’t just government employees - they are the main ones getting caught though because most private employers are not looking at this issue.
Comment by Hannibal Lecter Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 4:46 pm
DHS hovers between 12 and 13k employees. Right now, we’ve lost roughly 1% of our headcount over this. As to the how, people told other people. Some of these workers were clustered in the same facility or office. As has been reported earlier, 37 workers were from one developmental center.
Comment by DHS Drone Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 5:07 pm
=== Corrections isn’t there at all===
If one listens closely they can hear the Spirit of Corrections whispering in the wind “I didn’t see anything” in between the “When I started people still bought their promotion to Lt with political contributions” and “They’ll never touch her, she was one of the good time girls.”
Given everything I’ve heard about Corrections over the years I would be astonished if they promptly and quickly completed any investigation that wasn’t driven by a warden or deputy director out for petty revenge. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they were dragging their feet on terminating for PPP fraud on account of their staffing crisis.
Comment by Candy Dogood Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 5:23 pm
Hit Google and type PPP fraud, and you’ll see countless articles from all over the country. It was a grift done by all walks of life. Men, women, rich, poor, business owners, government employees, pro athletes, people in prison etc etc. BTW most of them are doing some level of time depending on how much they took.
Comment by Frida's boss Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 5:53 pm
Anyone who abused this program should suffer the wrath of God. It may take a long time, but I’m all for going after every one of these folks.
Comment by Excessively Rabid Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 6:23 pm
“BTW most of them are doing some level of time depending on how much they took.”
Yes there are workers who resign or retire, before discharge, and think it’s over. It isn’t.
Comment by DHS Drone Tuesday, Sep 12, 23 @ 9:51 pm
One downside to this is its bogging down the OEIG. Other cases that they took are taking much longer to get investigated due to the amount of staff on this issue.
Scary thought is that it’s causing other issues to go on longer than they normally would.
All because of corrupt individuals breaking the law.
Comment by The Dude Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 4:20 am
Exactly. And OEIG admits they are only looking at the cases for 20k or more. They just don’t have the personnel to look into all of them.
Comment by DHS Drone Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 5:45 am