A national enforcement surge has uncovered more than $245 million in stolen COVID-era money that was intended for small businesses.
Dubbed “Operation No Doze,” the operation centered on loans obtained through false claims to the Small Business Administration’s COVID-era programs.
The COVID-era programs were the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan. The PPP offered services such as forgivable loans intended for payroll until May 2021. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) provided loans and advances and stopped accepting new applicants in May 2022.
However, fraudulent claims abounded nationwide. Forty U.S. Attorney’s Offices, including three from Texas, collaborated with twenty federal and state investigative agencies in Operation No Doze.
“Six years after our first PPP fraud case was charged in Austin, we are still finding fraudsters and holding them accountable for their greed-driven schemes that undermined a federal program and stole from American taxpayers in the midst of the chaos that was the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “This surge, led by the National Fraud Enforcement Division, highlights our commitment to protecting the integrity of our government programs and ensuring no one gets away with defrauding the public.”
Simmons’ Western District played an active role in Operation No Doze. He reported that defendants Arun Mago and Eve Zou pleaded guilty in separate fraud...
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