As much as $8.51 billion in unemployment benefits was sent to fraudsters during the pandemic, a report released Wednesday by Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency found.
The report, prepared by Deloitte & Touche LLP for the UIA, found that the agency paid an estimated $8.4 billion-$8.51 billion in potentially fraudulent claims from March 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, but avoided paying an estimated $43.7 billion in fraudulent claims in that time period.
Julia Dale, the new director of the agency, said her initial reaction to the report, which updated a Deloitte report released in November 2020, was "outrage."
"When you look at the numbers here, to say that they're troubling is an understatement," Dale said. "I'm frustrated by those who are out there willing to take advantage of the system."
Throughout the pandemic, when there was a torrent of new jobless claims. Michigan and other states faced attacks on their unemployment systems, with some applicants trying to take advantage of overwhelmed systems to receive the more generous benefits.
For example, an audit of Ohio's unemployment insurance system released in October found the state's agency paid out more than $3.8 billion in error from April 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, while California distributed more than $20 billion in fraudulent unemployment payments since the start of the pandemic, multiple news outlets have reported.
Most of the money paid to fraudsters in Michigan was federally funded, the Deloitte...
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