Prosecutor: 77 indicted, millions seized locally for COVID scams

The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District says his office and the relief task force it works with will “continues to pursue, investigate, prosecute and recover money.”

By Louis Llovio
| 6:30 p.m. January 17, 2024
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Roger B. Handberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, has focused on PPP loan fraud cases.

Tampa Bay-Lakeland

A COVID-19 fraud task force run in part by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa indicted more than 21 people last year for attempting to illegally collect more than $15 million in federal relief funds.

Those indictments bring to 77 the total number of fraud cases totaling $85 million that federal prosecutors locally have brought against defendants who have tried to scam the federal government out of relief funds set aside for people in need during the pandemic.

To date, the justice department says, 56 have already been convicted, and 21 are still waiting trial.