(The Center Square) – At least 48 one-time employees of Cook County Clerk of Court Iris Martinez “no longer work” for her office after becoming ensnared in a growing number of still unfolding fraud investigations revolving around COVID-19 relief programs.
All of the now former government employees, who were either fired or resigned, were found to have defrauded the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that was put into place to help businesses struggling to survive during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic over a two-year period beginning in 2020.
Across much of the country, many of the loans were part of the federal Small Business Administration’s fraud-plagued program, meaning they were forgiven and the owners of the many businesses were not required to pay back any of the PPP money they received.
“I am personally offended that individuals in my office that took advantage of the PPP loan program,” said Martinez, stressing that she knows public trust is a key component in her office being able to do what it is designed to. “I cannot stand by any employee who provided false or altered information to these banking institutions for their own personal gain at the expense of taxpayers. These individuals undermined a government program designed to save American businesses.”
To date, no breakdown of how many employees were fired versus how many made the decision to walk away has been made public.
Earlier this month, interim Cook County Inspector General Steven Cyranoski made public a quarterly report where he highlighted that his office has found six other county employees who have also defrauded federal relief programs. In those cases, one employee of the Cook County Board of Review and one in Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office have been fired, while a trio of county employees (in facilities management, the public defender’s office and the Cook County Board’s secretary to the board office) have resigned. In another case involving a county comptroller’s office employee, disciplinary action is still pending.
In the case of the public defender’s employee, authorities said the individual received a PPP loan for $20,000 and a federal COVID-19 Economic Impact Disaster Loan for $10,000 by claiming that she owned a real estate business. With investigators establishing that she applied for at least one of the loans while on county time, reports also show that she admitted to spending the money on a vehicle and rent and to pay credit-card bills.
More recently, at least three supervisors in the Cook County Chief Judges office also are out of their government positions after fraud accusations against them were “sustained” by an investigation.