Congress Extends Pandemic Relief Fraud Statute of Limitations to Ten Years Following Watchdog Criticism

$43 billion in pandemic relief grants — $28.6B for restaurants and $16.25B for live venues — is covered by H.R. 4495's extended fraud enforcement window

At the SBA's 2024 review pace, completing audits of all 13,011 Shuttered Venue grants would take until 2043 — nearly 20 years past the original 5-year fraud deadline

The SBA OIG identified $544 million in potential improper SVOG payments still to be recovered, and flagged 1,818 high-risk awards totaling $1.6 billion for further review

GAO found that SBA's Restaurant Revitalization Fund approved $557 million in applications without verifying gross sales — a key fraud-prevention control — and flagged over 4,000 recipients for suspected fraud

The PPP and EIDL programs — which already carry a 10-year fraud statute of limitations — produced 3,096 criminal defendants and 2,532 convictions as of late 2024