$200b stolen from COVID relief: Watchdog

Washington — Over $200 billion from the US government's COVID-19 relief programs was potentially stolen, a federal watchdog said on Tuesday, adding that the US Small Business Administration, or SBA, had weakened its controls in a rush to disburse the funds.

At least 17 percent of all funds related to the government's coronavirus Economic Injury Disaster Loan, or EIDL, and Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors, according to a report released on Tuesday by the SBA's office of inspector general.

Over the course of the pandemic, the SBA disbursed about $1.2 trillion of EIDL and PPP funds.