Pandemic Fueled Prosecutions: The Rise of White Collar Criminal and Regulatory Enforcement on Main Street USA

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress authorized the largest stimulus relief package in U.S. history, offering hundreds of billions of dollars to businesses suffering economic hardships through a variety of initiatives including the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, Provider Relief Fund, Restaurant Revitalization Fund, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, and the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Federal investigators and prosecutors have mobilized quickly to combat fraud in connection with these programs and to ensure that relief funds were disbursed, and spent, properly. This session will explore the fast-moving landscape of pandemic-fueled investigations and prosecutions, with a focus on the early criminal prosecutions, anticipated enforcement trends, and identifying areas of risk for recipients of federal aid. The panel will also address the increasing use of civil penalty statutes such as the False Claims Act and FIRREA, and the key role of whistleblowers in rooting out possible fraud. In the face of this unprecedented wave of federal scrutiny of businesses receiving COVID-19 relief, the opportunities for white-collar criminal defense lawyers and forensic accountants are greater than at any point in recent history.