Why scammers who stole billions in unemployment benefits may get away with fraud

WASHINGTON — Just a small percentage of the at least $60 billion in unemployment payments estimated to be lost to fraud during the pandemic has been recovered, and time is running out to prosecute those who committed the crime.

The statute of limitations for many pandemic-related unemployment insurance fraud investigations is set to expire in 2025. Government watchdogs are pleading with Congress to act, asking House lawmakers in two public hearings held this year to give prosecutors an additional five years to pursue fraudsters who took money that should have gone to unemployed Americans during the pandemic.

"This is a once-in-a-century fraud scheme," said McGregor Scott, who was appointed California's fraud special counsel by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. "This is the largest fraud scheme ever perpetrated on the taxpayers in the history of the United States. And so in the context of that, why not give law enforcement and prosecutors that extra time."

Michael Horowitz, chair of the federal Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, told