On March 10, 2022, the Department of Justice announced the appointment of Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers to serve as the DOJ’s first Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement. This announcement comes two years after Congress passed the $2.2 trillion economic relief bill known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and less than one year after the DOJ established its COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force. With this appointment, DOJ is signaling its commitment to increased COVID-related enforcement. As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is as important as ever that companies remain vigilant to compliance and enforcement concerns as they relate to pandemic relief programs.
We have previously written about the risks of government enforcement for companies that received CARES Act funds. Companies and their executives may face civil and criminal liability under federal law, including under the False Claims Act, for their actions related to participation in the pandemic relief program. To date, the DOJ has brought criminal charges against 1,000+ defendants with alleged losses exceeding $1.1 billion, and more than 240 civil investigations into 1,800+ individuals and entities for misconduct in connection with a total of more than $6 billion in pandemic relief loans. While the majority of those prosecutions and investigations have involved clear fraud schemes, the DOJ has signaled aggressive scrutiny of a broader range...
A person in his 30s who demanded compensation for alleged foreign substances in cup noodles and the absence of meat in stir-fried pork was sentenced to prison in both the first trial and the appel...