Latest news with #COVIDrelief
Fox News
29-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Feds bust Armenian fraud ring accused of stealing $30M in COVID, small business loans
For the second week in a row, the Department of Homeland Security carried out a dramatic, early-morning raid in Los Angeles targeting transnational organized crime rings. This week's bust netted fourteen arrests from an Armenian fraud ring that investigators say stole $30 million in COVID relief and Small Business loans meant to help taxpaying Americans. "If you are taking money from the government that doesn't belong to you, your door could be the next one that we're hitting," said U.S. Attorney for California's Central District, Bill Essayli. Fox News was exclusively embedded with DHS in the multi-agency sting that included the IRS and the Small Business Administration. Thirteen of the suspects are Armenian-born but have become naturalized. At least one of the suspects faces deportation. "This is the police. We have a warrant. Come out with your hands up!" one officer's voice echoed on a loudspeaker attached to an armored vehicle with agents inside. The special unit inside the armored vehicle first cut the chain on a gated driveway and then demanded one of the targeted suspects come out of his L.A.-area home in a sunrise bust. The wanted suspect is Armenian born and uses the name William McGrayan. He surrendered to police in the bust, slowly walking out of his front door towards the armored vehicle with his hands over his head. The criminal complaint says that an informant described McGrayan as "unhinged" claiming he talked about his ties to gangs in Armenia and threatened one person with a gun and baseball bat. Investigators say McGrayan is the brains of the crime ring that applied to steal $47 million in federal funds and got away with around $30 million. Court documents read that the suspects allegedly used phony documents including fake bank and tax papers to create multiple shell companies that applied for the federal funds. "That's $47 million in taxpayer funds that was meant to go to good use, and these transnational criminal organizations are exploiting the American people's good will and using it for their personal gain," said John Pasciucco, Acting Special Agent in Charge for HSI Los Angeles. After the fourteen suspects were arrested, they were brought to an unmarked, specially designated processing center to be booked. Law enforcement seized approximately $20,000 in cash, two money-counting machines, paper cash bands or currency straps in denominations of $2,000 and $10,000, multiple cell phones, multiple laptops, two loaded semi-automatic 9mm handguns, and boxes of 9mm ammunition. The suspects are charged with a range of crimes from conspiracy, wire and bank fraud to money laundering. Authorities say some of the money was spent on houses and luxury goods, other amounts were sent to Armenia, making it harder for the U.S. to trace.
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Trump's small business guru reveals true extent of Elon Musk's power
Donald Trump 's 'small business guru' has revealed the extent of DOGE leader Elon Musk 's reforms within her agency. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler praised Musk for uncovering massive fraud, waste and abuse and bringing an entrepreneur's mindset to the White House. Speaking with the Daily Mail in an exclusive sit-down interview on Friday, Loeffler, who normally sits next to Musk at Cabinet meetings, shared that the DOGE leader has found success by treating the government like a small business. 'I'm incredibly grateful to Elon Musk and his entire team at DOGE. I mean, these are hard working patriots. They are in the office late. They're here early. They're solving problems,' she said. 'We have found $630 million in fraud thanks to the DOGE team's efforts.' Musk's team found that the hundreds of millions of dollars in SBA loans went to individuals aged older than 115 or younger than 11, according to Social Security data. The massive fraud took place when the agency oversaw the allocation of billions worth of COVID-related funding, though it was first identified by DOGE in March. In addition to fraud, DOGE also identified wasteful contracts worth billions that the agency has since canceled, the SBA boss shared. 'We've ended those contracts that would have cost taxpayers $3 billion and we've also found areas where we can make this agency restored to its original founding mission of serving small businesses,' Loeffler told the Daily Mail. She touted her efforts 'reducing our workforce to pre-COVID levels and doing more with less, because that's what small businesses do.' 'They always do more with less,' she added. 'The federal government can do the same.' DOGE estimates it has found over $170 billion in fraud, waste and abuse since the beginning of Trump's term, according to its website. That averages out to over $1,000 per U.S. taxpayer, per DOGE's calculations. DOGE is 'doing exactly what all of us in the Cabinet who come from the private sector would do, which is, you come in and make an assessment of what can we do better?' Of all the U.S. agencies being reformed by DOGE, SBA ranks seventh for the amount of savings uncovered, according to the DOGE website. SBA spending has ballooned massively since the COVID epidemic, federal data shows, rising from around half a billion dollars in 2019 to $33 billion in 2024. Loeffler also told the Daily Mail that the president instructed her to prioritize loans to American small businesses that are focused on manufacturing. 'We live in a country that should be able to make its own nuts, bolts, screws and fasteners that build this country,' she said. 'We don't do that anymore.' Earlier this year, the SBA announced it cut over $100 billion in regulations to advance its 'Made in America' campaign to help promote manufacturing. 'Investment is needed more for AI enabled CNC machines, for example,' Loeffler said. Computer numerical control (CNC) machines are the cutting-edge, often AI-enabled, manufacturing instruments used for mass production. 'We were impressed by how many small businesses are already employing AI to increase productivity and efficiency in their operations,' she told the Daily Mail.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Washington state's school funding crisis is far from over
With the expiration of COVID relief funds, Washington's school districts face a financial cliff that threatens to undermine children's education. The situation has become particularly dire in the Mid-Columbia. The comedown from the sugar high of stimulus money has hit rural districts especially hard. During the pandemic, Kennewick, Pasco and Richland school districts received more than $137 million in one-time COVID relief. They used that money to fund programs like online learning academies and mental health services, knowing full well they'd have to make cuts without continued assistance. The problem isn't unique to this region, but districts in wealthy areas around Seattle can more easily pass levies to supplement inadequate state funding. Their larger property tax bases mean they can keep rates lower, too. Rural school districts must convince reluctant voters to approve higher rates. The Finley School District, for example, needed two tries to pass a recent operations levy and still will have to slash its budget. This creates an inherently inequitable system in which educational opportunities depend on ZIP codes — a situation that violates both the spirit and letter of the state's constitutional obligation to educate kids. Rankings by the State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction found that more than half of Mid-Columbia districts are below the state average for financial health. Pasco, Finley, Kiona-Benton City, Prosser and Richland all scored poorly. Kennewick, Columbia-Burbank and North Franklin fared better. Things could get worse. The Trump administration has threatened to suspend funding for schools that do not conform to White House edicts on race, ethnicity and gender. Washington has staked out positions in support of marginalized groups that run counter to those demands. The state constitution explicitly declares education to be the state's 'paramount duty,' a responsibility the state Supreme Court reinforced in its landmark McCleary decision. Despite state investment, many school districts face widespread cuts that will directly impact student learning because the state's approach to education funding is fundamentally flawed. Washington's school funding as a percentage of the state's general fund peaked in 2019 at more than 50%. Since then, it has fallen to about 43%. Meanwhile, operational costs for districts have skyrocketed, with liability insurance up nearly 50% and utilities increasing more than 30% since 2019. When costs increase and state funding does not keep pace, the effects land hardest on less-wealthy, often rural, districts. It will not be enough for lawmakers to come up with more money. They must find ways to equitably distribute the resources to help school districts that most need it. The Legislature took a step forward this session by passing Senate Bill 5263 to eliminate the special education funding cap, but that measure falls short of addressing the comprehensive funding needs of schools. The House and Senate compromised on approximately $870 million in additional special education funding over the next two budgets — significantly less than the $2 billion initially proposed by the Senate. With the 2025 legislative session over, additional state help will not be immediately forthcoming. Hopefully, lawmakers will listen to local school districts in the months to come and understand that they must do more to address the structural flaws in school funding. Fully funding every Washington school is not merely a policy preference but a moral and legal imperative. The consequences of inaction extend far beyond classroom walls. Inadequate school funding today means a less-prepared workforce tomorrow, reduced economic competitiveness, and greater social costs for our entire state. Washington's economic future depends on ensuring all students receive high-quality education. This isn't a partisan issue. The Legislature must stop applying bandages to a system that requires major surgery. It won't be easy. Lawmakers and the governor are coming off a session in which they had to deal with a revenue shortfall. There wasn't enough money to pay for everything the Legislature wanted. Spending cuts and tax increases ensued. Moving from one crisis through a period of relative calm to the next crisis is not enough. Washington needs a wholesale reconstruction of how it reliably funds schools to ensure that all students, regardless of where they live, receive the high-quality education that is their constitutional right.
