Will republicans use the Coronavirus in another of their socialism for the rich scams?

[billy.pilgrim]

I heard on the radio that donnie is already crying about the poor hotel owners may need federal (taxpayer) assistance.

Probably more to come; afterall, ask not what the workers can do for the country, ask what they can be do for the rich.

You predicted the fraud, though I don't know what proportion of the scammers are RepuQs.

'Biggest fraud in a generation': The looting of the Covid relief program known as PPP

hey bought Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys.

And Teslas, of course. Lots of Teslas.

Many who participated in what prosecutors are calling the largest fraud in U.S. history — the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money intended to help those harmed by the coronavirus pandemic — couldn’t resist purchasing luxury automobiles. Also mansions, private jet flights and swanky vacations.

They came into their riches by participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters — as NBC News reported last year. And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program....

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07 ... lief-money

"According to the Associated Press, up to $273 million in PPP funding went to the companies of major Trump donors—including Newsmax, the right-wing website whose CEO, Christopher Ruddy, is a longtime friend of the president and a big contributor to PACs that support him. Allies of the president on Capitol Hill and the media also cashed in. The Daily Caller, the conservative news organization co-founded by Tucker Carlson, one of Trump’s favorite Fox News personalities, secured up to a million dollars in taxpayer funds; its sketchy nonprofit arm, the Daily Caller News Foundation, accepted between $150,000 and $300,000. A winery partly owned by Representative Devin Nunes, the Trump ally who recently lost a legal case to a fictional cow, received at least $1 million in PPP funding."


"two hotels, owned by the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, benefitted from PPP money. (The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in New Jersey, named after the powerful Trump adviser’s grandfather and supported by his parents’ family foundation, received up to $2 million.) The family business of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao—who is married to McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader—received as much as $1 million in taxpayer dollars, as well. The trucking company founded by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and bearing his name got between $150,000 and $300,000. Trump’s own companies did not apparently receive any funding, but several organizations that operate out of properties owned by his real estate company did, as did the law firm headed by his longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz, who helped defend the president during Robert Mueller’s Russia probe."

[Vrede too]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07 ... lief-money
(Devin Nunes’ Winery, Kushner Family Business Raked In Coronavirus Relief Money
Mom-and-pop shops struggled to obtain PPP money, but Kanye West, Grover Norquist's anti-spending group, and a number of Trump allies didn't seem to have any trouble obtaining taxpayer funds.)

...

Trump Officials Awarded $700 Million Pandemic Loan Despite Objections

Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday released a report alleging that top Trump administration officials awarded a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company in 2020 over the objections of career officials at the Defense Department.

The report, released by the Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, describes the role of corporate lobbyists during the early months of the pandemic in helping to secure government funds as trillions of dollars of relief money were being pumped into the economy. It also suggests that senior officials such as Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, and Mark Esper, the former defense secretary, intervened to ensure that the trucking company, Yellow Corp., received special treatment despite concerns about its eligibility to receive relief funds....

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, was a “key actor” coordinating with Yellow’s lobbyists, according to correspondences that the committee obtained. The report also noted that the White House’s political operation was “almost giddy” in its effort to assist with the application.

The loan raised immediate questions from watchdog groups because of the company’s close ties to the Trump administration and because it had faced years of financial and legal turmoil. The firm had lost more than $100 million in 2019 and was being sued by the Justice Department over claims that it had defrauded the federal government for a seven-year period. It recently agreed to pay $6.85 million to resolve allegations “that they knowingly presented false claims to the U.S. Department of Defense by systematically overcharging for freight carrier services and making false statements to hide their misconduct.”

To qualify for a national security loan, a company needed certification by the Defense Department.

According to the report, defense officials had recommended against certification because of the accusations that the company had overcharged the government. They also noted that the work that the company had been doing for the federal government — which included shipping meal kits, protective equipment and other supplies to military bases — could be replaced by other trucking firms....

After the call with Mnuchin, Esper certified that the company was critical to national security and a week later the approval of the loan was announced....

[Vrede too]

...

Secret Service recovers $286M in stolen pandemic loans

The U.S. Secret Service said Friday that it has recovered $286 million in fraudulently obtained pandemic loans and is returning the money to the Small Business Administration.

The Secret Service said an investigation initiated by its Orlando office found that alleged conspirators submitted Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications by using fake or stolen employment and personal information and used an online bank, Green Dot, to conceal and move their criminal proceeds....

Since 2020, the Secret Service initiated more than 3,850 pandemic related fraud investigations, seized over $1.4 billion in fraudulently obtained funds and helped to return $2.3 billion to state unemployment insurance programs....

The article doesn't name the perps, say whether any of them are in FL, or say whether anyone's been arrested.

[Vrede too]

...

More confirmation of your thread-starting prediction. Dolt .45 couldn't even keep the money within the US.

U.S. sent $1.3 billion in small-business covid aid abroad, raising new fraud fears

[Vrede too]

Welfare for merchants.
Ineffective at raising vax rates.
RepuQ Governor.
West Virginia, figures.

West Virginia's COVID vaccine lottery under scrutiny

... The lottery offered more than $20 million in prizes, surpassing lotteries in neighboring Ohio and Maryland combined, and offering scholarships, vacations, cash and vehicles....

[Vrede too]

I heard on the radio that donnie is already crying about the poor hotel owners may need federal (taxpayer) assistance.

Probably more to come; afterall, ask not what the workers can do for the country, ask what they can be do for the rich.

You predicted this immediately:

The Trillion-Dollar Grift: Inside the Greatest Scam of All Time
The pandemic relief was the biggest bailout in history, and it opened the door to wide-scale fraud the likes of which no one had ever seen — more than three years later, we still don't know how much damage was done

In late March 2020, Haywood Talcove, a CEO at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, was packing up his office, having sent his employees home. He was worrying about laying off his staff, his family’s health, and how he was going to manage two young kids at home during the pandemic.

But when President Trump announced an initial $2.2 trillion relief package to bail out the millions of Americans desperate for cash during the national lockdown, his concern turned away from the coronavirus. An expert in cybersecurity, Talcove has worked in both the private and public sectors, and has been raising the alarm about the government’s exposure to scams for many years. And now, it was like all of his prior analysis and warnings about fraud had just become real....

Kudos, but it's a curse to be so cynically intuitive. You jinxed a nation.

[Vrede too]

Look who else scammed us:

17 Florida Sheriff's Deputies Accused Of Stealing About $500,000 In Pandemic Relief Funds

The Broward County deputies, who are charged separately, are accused of a range of crimes, according to court records. Most are charged with wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though one deputy is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which has a maximum sentence of five years.

The eight law enforcement deputies and nine detention deputies have been suspended, Sheriff Gregory Tony said during a news conference. He said his office is going through the legal process of firing them.

“At the end of the day, they will be gone," Tony said....

Lock them up! 1312.

[billy.pilgrim]

Look who else scammed us:

17 Florida Sheriff's Deputies Accused Of Stealing About $500,000 In Pandemic Relief Funds

The Broward County deputies, who are charged separately, are accused of a range of crimes, according to court records. Most are charged with wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though one deputy is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which has a maximum sentence of five years.

The eight law enforcement deputies and nine detention deputies have been suspended, Sheriff Gregory Tony said during a news conference. He said his office is going through the legal process of firing them.

“At the end of the day, they will be gone," Tony said....

Lock them up! 1312.

That just 1 county, we have 67.

[billy.pilgrim]

Republicans have a long history of using For the People words for scams to take from the taxpayer and give to the rich, while using the military to carry out the plan.

"1862: Homestead Act
With the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862, people were eligible to claim up to 160 acres of land in the west. After residing on the land for five years and making improvements at that time, the land would be given to those who settled it. Many people rushed west to claim their land and establish a homestead. Approximately 500 million acres were assigned to those who made claims under this law between 1862 and 1904. About 80 million of those acres went to homesteaders; the rest went to business interests such as cattlemen, timbermen, railroads, miners, and speculators."

In the Homwstead Act - 16% of the land went to Homesteaders.

cattlemen, timbermen, railroads, miners, and speculators." got the rest.


https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles ... n-timeline

As punishment for having taken up arms, most Southerners were not allowed to Homestead.
Afterall, why would we want to help those whose infrastructure we destroyed?

[Vrede too]

Republicans have a long history of using For the People words for scams to take from the taxpayer and give to the rich, while using the military to carry out the plan.


In the Homestead Act - 16% of the land went to Homesteaders.

"cattlemen, timbermen, railroads, miners, and speculators" got the rest.

https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles ... n-timeline

Scammers love to exploit decent programs. For example there was Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Feb 9, 2023:

Brett Favre sues Shannon Sharpe, Pat McAfee, auditor for defamation

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, who remains embroiled in the largest welfare fraud scandal in Mississippi state history, filed three separate defamation lawsuits Thursday against state auditor Shad White as well as national sports commentators Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee....

Favre's lawsuit against Sharpe, an NFL veteran of 14 seasons who now serves as co-host of Fox Sports 1's "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," alleges that Sharpe defamed Favre by saying on his broadcast that Favre was a "sorry mofo to steal from the lowest of the low," and that Favre "stole money from people that really needed that money."

Nice

Oct 30, 2023:

Judge dismisses Brett Favre's defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe


Shannon Sharpe - 1
Sorry mofo Favre - 0

[Vrede too]

Slipknot, Korn, Smashing Pumpkins and Nickelback named in US Senator's report on wasteful government spending


Slipknot group shot.

... Senator Rand Paul, a Republican representing Kentucky, has released his annual 'Festivus Report' – a breakdown of what he considers to be the US federal government's most wasteful spending in 2023.

Rand's latest report was released this week and namechecks some of the biggest acts in the music business, including a string of rock and metal big hitters.

In a section titled '$200million Ticket to Backstage', the report shines a light on financial relief distributed to gig venues and theatres during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The task of distributing some of the funds was handed to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

But according to the Festivus Report, the SBA distributed $200m to bands who were classed as "small business owners." Slipknot were awarded just under $10m, Smashing Pumpkins got $8.6m and Korn received $5.3m.

Slipknot's Knotfest festival was awarded just over $1m.

I'd want to see responses from the bands, but Rand may have a point.

In an apparent swipe at everyone's favourite whipping boys Nickelback, Rand says: "Even Nickelback received $2million."

He continues: "While some may claim these funds were used to keep supporting staff, artists were not required to do so, and we have no way of determining how these blank checks were used....

If true, that's a problem.