By B.N. Frank
What’s troubling to many Americans: not that Coronavirus
Relief is being distributed, but to whom and for what.
From Full
Measure:
(Video posted below)
TRANSCRIPT
There’s more tax money going toward coronavirus relief
than anything comparable. The amount is more than double the
so-called “stimulus” plan in 2009. Today, who’s following the
money and what they’re finding.
Timothy Persons: That amount of money is typically going to have
some amount of fraud.
Timothy Persons is a top analyst at the Government
Accountability Office or GAO, one of the main agencies overseeing
all the coronavirus spending.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act
gives $2.6 trillion tax dollars in emergency assistance. Part of
that is the Paycheck Protection Program or PPP, up to $659 billion
for payroll and expenses to keep small businesses going.
Sharyl: If you can’t look at every penny, how do you decide
what to track?
Persons: Well, our biggest task is we are under the CARES Act.
GAO has a mandate to do ongoing oversight wherever it is necessary.
Again, not just the size of the spend, but how it’s being spent.
Is it being spent in a way that is accountable, that you can do
proper financial accounting on it? Are we getting return on
investment for it?
A big part of the job is watching for waste, fraud and abuse and
there’s already been plenty of that.
Persons: The Comptroller General recently testified, and this
was a top level finding that he had reported, is that there were
still payments going to, for example, people who are deceased.
The head of the GAO, Gene Dodaro, told Congress the IRS
knowingly sent out $1.4 billion in coronavirus relief payments to
1.1 million dead people, including his own mother who died more
than two years before. Believe it or not, GAO says the IRS
determined it “did not have the legal authority to deny payments
to those who filed a return for 2019, even if they were
deceased.”
Gene Dodaro: The IRS initially determined that deceased people,
or anybody who filed a return in 2018 or 2019 should be paid, so
they knew they were paying people who were deceased. Then it became
known publicly, Treasury then reevaluated that position and stopped
it.
Sharyl: When we’re talking about trillions of dollars, there
are two opposing concerns. One of course is to get the money out
the door as fast as possible to help people. The other is to try to
make sure it’s not lost to waste fraud and abuse.
Persons: That’s right.
Sharyl: How do you balance that?
Persons: Yes. So that is the core issue and to protect in our
role at GAO to help Congress look out and to protect the American
taxpayer, the investments and things. There’s also a specialized
unit that has stood up on the pandemic.
Some of the oversight involves crimes.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt:
Unfortunately, almost every crisis brings out not only those that
seek to help others, but those who try to exploit the situation for
their own unlawful purposes and financial gain.
The Justice Department has charged more than four dozen people
with trying to steal $175 million through the Paycheck Protection
Program.
Former NFL player Josh Bellamy is accused of fraud after getting
more than $1.2 million in coronavirus relief money. Prosecutors
allege he bought $104,000 in luxury items and jewelry at places
like Dior and Gucci, spent $62 thousand dollars at the Seminole
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and applied for coronavirus money for
family members and friends. Ten others are charged in the alleged
scheme involving 90 fraudulent applications worth more than $24
million.
Reality TV star Maurice “Mo” Fayne of “Love & Hip Hop:
Atlanta” got $3.7 million tax dollars for his business Flame
Trucking. Prosecutors say he used $1.5 million of it to buy a Rolls
Royce, diamonds and other jewelry, and make $40-thousand dollars in
child support payments.
And David Hines allegedly used $3.9 million in COVID-Relief
Funds in part to buy a $318,000 Lamborghini Sports Car and $8,500
worth of jewelry, and go on a $4,600 shopping spree at Saks Fifth
Avenue.
Persons says one lesson we should have learned after the 2009
stimulus program is that we need a new and better strategic plan
when it comes to this sort of spending on such a massive scale.
Persons: I think you really do need a George Marshall kind of
person looking across strategically and being able to be both broad
and deep on the issues so that entire system can be built so that
we are more responsive and things.
General George Marshall spearheaded the Marshall Plan after
World War II to help rebuild Europe and spur a remarkable economic
recovery.
Persons: We haven’t been as prepared as we could have been for
this disease or for prior pandemics or other outbreaks of things.
And so I really do think the ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure.
Sharyl (on camera): All of those we mentioned who were
charged have either said they aren’t guilty, or are awaiting a
date to enter a plea.
On a related note – in 2009 billions of taxpayer dollars were
included in federal stimulus money distributed to American utility
companies to install “Smart” Meters –
electric, gas, and water (see
1,
2). American opposition to these meters – including from
legislators (see
1, 2,
3) – has been ongoing from the start. These devices have been
associated with
fires, explosions, higher bills (see
1,
2), frequent replacement (see
1, 2, 3),
serious cybersecurity risks (see
1,
2), and health problems (see
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8).
“Smart” Meters are NOT safe. They
DO NOT save meaningful amounts of energy. They are VERY
PROFITABLE though.
Unlike one-way transmitting analog meters, “Smart” Meters
allow utilities to
collect minute-by-minute customer usage data 24/7. Utilities
collect and analyze this data so they can market more products
and services to customers and/or
sell data to 3rd
parties, even ICE!!! These meters also allow companies to
remotely turn off services AND
ration energy.
Online documentary Take Back Your Power
reveals more about disastrous “Smart” Meters and Grids. Despite
all their problems –
more are being installed in the U.S. and worldwide.
Will anyone ever be held accountable for the billions spent on
this abuse, fraud, and waste?
Activist Post reports regularly about “Smart” Meters and
other unsafe technology. For more information, visit our
archives and the following websites:
- Coalition to Stop
Smart Meters - EMF Safety
Network - StopSmartMeters.org
- SmartMeterHarm
- Smart Grid
Awareness - Smart
Meter News - Take Back Your
Power - The People’s
Initiative
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