Covid - Fraud and misconduct in NY, Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore

 

Covid - Fraud and misconduct in NY, Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore

In each major city across America the amount of funding produced because of Covid was astronomical. But the real test of honesty goes out not to New York City or New York State, nor does it extend to Chicago, Boston or even Baltimore because in each of those cities, the elected officials took advantage of the federal taxpayer by accepting federal funds only to abuse those funds with mismanagement, fraud, and misconduct. While each of these cities are struggling financial hardships at alarming high rates, particularly in Black and Latino communities the state which these cities reside received funding from the CARES Act. In New York alone the federal government paid out over $272 Billion dollars in CARE Act funds to help bolster the local government and small businesses that were suffering because of Covid. It was also supposed to help offset the unemployment situation in the city alone. However, like other major cities these funds were abused, and the local elected official begged for more help to which the federal government forked over another 84 billion to New York alone. Now one might ask where did this money go? Who got it why are they still asking for a financial bailout? Well, all one must do is look at the criminals and gangs who grabbed the money. A pastor of a defunct church in Texas, a former state lawmaker in Missouri and a roofing contractor in Montana.

According to an Associated Press investigation, they “found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has so far disbursed in COVID relief aid.”

New York isn’t the only state or city who failed the American People, Orange County California was also a big fraud area where businesspeople were claiming to help citizens who were out of work with relief funding only to be investigated and found to have stolen over $100 million in federal relief funding. Then we have nursing homes where workers were paid over $300 per hour to care for Covid 19 patients that weren’t even Covid 19 patients, but instead just elderly citizens whose social security checks were charged for their stay in said nursing home. Talk about fraud on many levels, to the tune of federal funding $30 billion dollars of taxpayer funds.

Nebraska and Kentucky found that one third of their unemployment funding went missing or misspent due to a lack of internal controls and auditing procedures. Funding provided by the CARE Act. At present each city that received funding through the CARE Act is now under federal investigation due to fraud, mismanagement, and misconduct, yet they are all begging for new funds to help offset the infiltration of illegal migrants to help cover the cost of housing, feeding, and caring for these new individuals. Talk about incompetent leadership. 

Don’t open your city’s doors only to realize that your infrastructure can’t handle the new number of individuals needed to house, feed and care for when your city is already hurting from Covid incompetency. Unfortunately, the major cities who are now begging for more funding are all democratic run states and cities, that must tell you something. What it tells me is that they bit off more than they could handle in opening their city as sanctuary cities and are ripe for more fraud, mismanagement, and misconduct. Unfortunately, the average citizen of each of these states and cities are the ones who will suffer the most. God Help them. Maybe they should consider voting out the persons whom they trusted with their welfare only to realize they were fraudsters after all and can’t be trusted.

Artist and Author Elizabeth Kilbride is a former political operative, author, scriptwriter, historian, and journalist. business professional, creative artist, and life coach consultant. Ms. Kilbride holds a master’s in criminology and a BS in Business Management she stepped out of the loop for a while but is now back with a powerful opinion and voice in the direction of this country and our economy. As a life coach, she is available to counsel individuals to enjoy their dreams and a better life. Ms. Kilbride loves to travel and photograph her surroundings and is also a gourmet cook who loves to garden and preserve food for the winter months.