Tackling the biggest fraud in US history – pandemic relief

A New Jersey man donning a curly orange wig defrauded California and the federal government of more than $1.67 million in pandemic relief funds. They finally caught up with him nearly three years after opening the floodgates of cash.

Next Monday, Eric Michael Jaklitsch is scheduled to be sentenced in two related cases, according to the Department of Justice.

Nearly as extraordinary as the scale of the fraud Mr. Jaklitsch attempted is the degree to which he succeeded. Of the at least $1,280,680 he sought in loans from the Small Business Administration, he was approved for all but $140. And California apparently failed to notice that the same man had filed at least 78 different claims, authorizing Bank of America to mail out dozens of debit cards loaded with unemployment benefits to addresses under his control. 

With estimates indicating that as much as $560 billion, or nearly 20%, was stolen out of more than $3 trillion distributed through the three main pandemic aid programs, Mr. Jaklitsch’s case illustrates the twin challenges now facing states and the federal government as they grapple with what is likely the biggest fraud in U.S. history.

First, they are racing to catch those who committed fraud, particularly the