We need to crack down on fraud. Here’s what Floridians should do | Opinion

In recent weeks, we’ve heard from both sides of the aisle in Washington, D.C., about cutting wasteful spending to pass a clean budget. But before we talk about addressing spending, we should begin by looking at the billions of dollars that have been wrongfully stolen from the federal government by bad actors who have used the system for their own self-gain.

At a time when our country has needed help the most, it is alarming that major government programs have been riddled with fraud and much-needed financial assistance has been siphoned from those who need the help to those who don’t.

Part of the answer: awareness and action. Not only from government leaders, but from the general public.

Consider: The problem is particularly bad in our home state of Florida — ground zero for fraud from government programs. For now, let’s focus on two which are particularly alarming: Medicare and the Paycheck Protection Program.

During my tenure in Congress, we faced an unprecedented crisis stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to quickly confront the challenge that tens of thousands of businesses were forced to shut down, and address the effects this would have on the hard-working Floridians who rely on industries like hospitality and tourism, to feed their families. It is, after all, the responsibility of a strong democracy to meet the needs of its citizens in any emergency. In Congress, we quickly acted to pass the PPP program as part of a larger initiative to support small businesses, which are the backbone of America’s economy.

Unfortunately, many bad actors took advantage of this program, resulting in theft. As NPR reported, an estimated $64 billion of the nearly $800 billion in PPP loans issued “show signs of fraud.”

Juan Gonzalez, former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida, told NBC that Miami is among the fraud centers in the country. We should all be outraged. Not only were billions of taxpayer dollars stripped from citizens, but PPP funds ran out early, leaving many struggling, or shuttering their businesses.

The problem gets worse when we consider financial technology companies, or fintechs. The U.S. House of Representatives issued a December report titled, “We Are Not The Fraud Police: How Fintechs Facilitated Fraud In The Paycheck Protection Program.” Fintechs can exist outside of the regulatory structure governing traditional financial institutions and with little to no oversight from lenders. In implementing the program, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) relied on lenders (which were paid commissions) to get small businesses the money they needed quickly. Lenders used fintechs to help process and underwrite PPP loans because the application volumes were so overwhelming.

The Miami Herald recently reported that the top SBA official who oversaw PPP, Trump administration appointee William Manger, left the SBA and began working for a company called Womply, one of the worst fintech PPP fraud offenders, according to the government’s report.

There is no update on the investigation, according to the Herald. And that’s precisely the problem.

Similarly, the Medicare program has become a breeding ground for fraud. Early this year, a federal jury convicted two Florida doctors in a $31 million Medicare fraud scheme. Sadly, these convictions are only scratching the surface, as government agencies’ resources are stretched thin, there’s a lack of federal oversight and plenty of loopholes.

It’s a matter of time before we will need the federal government to help working families through the next crisis or pandemic. We must take steps now to prevent future fraud.

As taxpayers, we should demand that federal agencies are fully funded and have the necessary infrastructure to follow Congress’s guidance for implementing programs such as PPP. That includes supporting law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Department of Justice, whose main charge is investigating and prosecuting crime and fraud.

The hardworking, honest taxpayers who need support the most are the ones paying the price for these crimes — with many wrongdoers getting away with it. We must come together as a nation and issue a call to action to the Office of Inspector General of the different agencies, the FBI and DOJ to step up their investigations, hold the bad actors accountable and help us ensure this never happens again.

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is senior advisor at the gun control advocacy group Giffords Florida. Mucarsel-Powell was elected to Florida’s 26th Congressional District in 2018.