Michigan's jobless aid agency lost more than $8.5 billion to suspected fraudulent payments amid record claims and persistent attempts at fraud during the pandemic, according to a report issued Wednesday.
The state's fraud total includes nearly $2.7 billion in imposter fraud or claims involving stolen identities, nearly $5.6 billion in likely intentional misrepresentation cases or claims involving false statements or documents. Additionally, a recent audit identified about $3.9 billion in ineligible payments due to a state error in eligibility criteria, but the agency believes a portion of that $3.9 billion overlaps with the intentional misrepresentation number.
The tallies are huge increases from prior estimates, including an audit in November 2020 that pegged fraud losses at "hundreds of millions."
The agency has paid a total of $39 billion in unemployment aid to 3.4 million Michigan residents since March 2020 so the fraud losses account for more than 20% of pandemic payments.
“It’s extremely disheartening that bad actors have defrauded the much-needed benefits intended for hard-working Michiganders and the scale of their actions is stunning,” said UIA Director Julia Dale. “We have been successful over the past year in limiting the percentage of cases that are fraudulent to less than 1 percent, but we will never stop fighting for our workers.”
The report was released Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Dale as they noted a marked decrease in fraud cases, increased...
A newly unsealed whistleblower lawsuit accuses Novartis and Genentech of being at the center of a decades-long kickback scheme to promote their immunology med Xolair across dozens of states. Whist...