U.S. Recovers $1 Billion in Stolen Pandemic Jobless Benefits

The Labor Department announced June 17 it has recovered more than $1 billion stolen during the pandemic through fraudulent unemployment claims. Federal officials ordered banks to freeze accounts tied to the theft and pressed states to claw back overpayments. Rather than prosecuting individuals alone, they targeted the financial pipelines where stolen money flowed, a faster approach to stopping the fraud.