The Secret Service has returned about $286 million in wrongfully obtained COVID-relief loans to the Small Business Administration, the agency announced Friday.
The federal small business loan program was set up to help small businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic's economic impacts.
Conspirators fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loans with applications based on fabricated or stolen personal and employment information, the Secret Service said in a news release Friday. According to the Secret Service, conspirators used a debit card issuer to conceal and move the funds through over 15,000 accounts. The Secret Service worked with the debit card issuer, Green Dot Bank, to seize the $286 million.