Rep. Darin LaHood on Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act (HR 1156)

Support for HR 1156

• 🎯 Rep. Darin LaHood strongly supports HR 1156, the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act, aiming to deter crime and prevent further losses.
• ⏱️ This bill extends the statute of limitations for unemployment fraud from 5 to 10 years, giving law enforcement more time to pursue fraudsters and international criminal organizations.

Scale of Unemployment Fraud

• 📊 The GAO estimates that between $100 billion and $135 billion was lost to fraud during the pandemic, with only $5 billion recovered.
• 🌐 A significant portion of this fraudulent benefit money, as much as 70%, allegedly went to Russian Mobsters, Chinese hackers, and Nigerian scammers.
• 💰 A recent DOJ case highlighted a Pennsylvania man who obtained $59 million in public benefits and laundered the proceeds to China.

Ongoing Fraud and Consequences

• ⚠️ Fraud is continuing to occur, with fraudsters now targeting disaster unemployment benefits using stolen identities of California fire victims.
• ⚖️ Prosecuting bad actors has a deterrent effect, preventing additional losses to the government and American taxpayers.
• 🧊 Without this bill, over 1,600 open DOJ cases and 157,000 uninvestigated UI fraud hotline complaints could go cold, allowing criminals to go unpunished.
• 🗳️ A vote against this bill is framed as a vote to surrender to fraudsters and criminals.