Lawmakers Push to Extend Statute of Limitations for Pandemic Relief Fraud

New legislation aims to address widespread fraud in SBA programs, following reports of $300 billion in misused relief funds and failures in fraud prevention efforts.

• Senator Joni Ernst and Representative Roger Williams introduced the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) and Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) programs to 10 years.
• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that the Small Business Administration (SBA) failed to investigate 2-3 million fraud referrals due to incomplete or incorrect data.
• An estimated $300 billion in pandemic relief funds were lost to fraud, with some funds reportedly misused by high-profile individuals and organizations.
• Thousands of legitimate small businesses were deprived of critical aid as fraudulent claims drained resources from relief programs.
• The Justice Department has charged over 3,000 individuals in connection with pandemic-related fraud, recovering more than $1 billion in misused funds.

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