Four Cook County employees committed “financial fraud directed at the federal government” by wrongly collecting roughly $120,000 in payroll protection plan loans intended to help businesses survive the pandemic, according to a new report from the county’s inspector general.
The allegations stem from the first of several pending investigations “involving dual employment and PPP Loan applications taken by employees in all offices of Cook County government,” Patrick Blanchard, head of the Office of the Independent Inspector General, said in an email to the Tribune.
Blanchard’s office recommended the four employees be placed on the county’s “do not rehire” list, and has been “in contact with both federal and state officials regarding this line of OIIG investigations,” Blanchard said.
The employees were not named in the report. But it noted that three work in offices under Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle that handle sensitive financial matters, while a fourth works at the county’s Board of Review.
The federal paycheck protection program was rife with fraud, with some experts estimating $80 billion in loans was stolen nationally as the government rushed to get financial relief to struggling businesses during the height of the pandemic.
As of March, a Justice Department crackdown has led to just 120 defendants being charged with PPP fraud.
The county IG’s investigation looked into whether county employees who filed for PPP loans complied with the…
