More than half the money paid out under a special unemployment assistance program set up during the pandemic was lost to fraud, according to a new state audit.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program was set up by the federal government to help self-employed and gig economy workers who saw their income dry up because of pandemic-related shutdowns. The audit found that out of $3.6 billion in payments made by the state in the first year of the program, an estimated $1.9 billion went to fraudulent claims, most involving identity theft.
The Pritzker administration says fraud was a nationwide problem, made worse by the Trump administration’s flawed rules for the program. But the audit says inadequate state record-keeping also made it harder to find and stop fraud.
