On March 27 of this year, we marked the three-year anniversary of Congress’s passage of the CARES Act. The CARES Act extended a vital lifeline to small businesses and individuals throughout the pandemic, sparing millions of taxpayers from financial ruin. On the darker side, the pandemic relief programs have been rife with fraud. Proving the adage that where there is free money there is fraud, virtually every pandemic program—from the Payroll Protection Program to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program to the Employee Retention Credit program—has been beset by significant fraud. The government has responded aggressively by adopting a “whole-of-government” approach to enforcement, creating special inspectors general, extending statutes of limitations for criminal charges, encouraging whistleblowers to come forward, and by bringing scores of prosecutions. If recent history is any indication, we will be seeing enforcement actions for pandemic fraud for years to come.

With a special focus on the Payroll Protection Program and the Employee Retention Credit, this webinar will take a look back at the last three years to assess how and why fraudsters were able to prey easily on these programs, review the government’s response to the fraud (including recent prosecutions), discuss what to expect in the future, and determine what lessons can be drawn for future enforcement.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the fraud that has occurred within the pandemic relief programs during the past three years since the passage of the CARES Act


• Summarize the U.S. government’s response to the fraud that has occurred within the pandemic relief programs


• Recall how and why fraudsters were able to prey easily on these pandemic relief programs—especially the Payroll Protection Program and the Employee Retention Credit