Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery

Program Summary by Budget Activity

Dollars in Thousands

 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 FY 2023 to FY 2024

Budget Activity Operating Plan Operating

Plan Request $ Change % Change

Audit & Investigations $8,000 $12,000 $16,000 $4,000 33.33%

Subtotal SIGPR $8,000 $12,000 $16,000 $4,000 100.00%

Offsetting Collections - Reimbursable $10 $100 $100 $0 0.00%

Unobligated Balances Brought Forward $12,000 $5,000 $1,000 ($4,000) -63.63%

Total Program Operating Level $20,010 $17,100 $17,100 00 0.00%

Direct FTE 53 55 55 0 0.00%

Total Full-time Equivalents (FTE) 53 55 55 0 0.00%

Summary

The Budget proposes appropriations language to provide SIGPR $16 million in appropriated 

funds, though SIGPR maintains $25 million is necessary to achieve optimal staffing and 

operational levels if Congress grants SIGPR an extension beyond 2025 and increases our 

jurisdiction. The proposed level of $16 million will allow SIGPR to continue operating at its 

current FTE level.

SIGPR, an independent office within the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), was established 

by section 4018 of the CARES Act in March 2020. Mr. Brian Miller was confirmed by the U.S. 

Senate in June 2020 as the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. SIGPR continues 

to lead the way by providing oversight of Treasury activities under the CARES Act by 

conducting independent audits and investigations necessary to prevent and detect waste, fraud, 

and abuse in programs and operations. SIGPR’s CARES programs jurisdiction currently includes 

two significant programs, the Direct Loan Program (loans to air carriers and national security 

businesses consisting of 35 loans, 35 borrowers for $2.7 billion), and the Main Street Lending 

Program (loans to small and medium-sized for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations 

consisting of 319 lenders, 1,830 loans for $17.5 billion). SIGPR conducts audits of these 

Treasury programs, investigates fraud by recipients of CARES Act funds, and makes 

recommendations designed to improve the administration of pandemic recovery programs. 

SIGPR also conducts criminal investigations into allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse while 

helping to ensure that SIGPR protects and secures taxpayer data. 

In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act (GPRAMA)

of 2010, the Department of the Treasury is currently developing the FY 2022 - 2026 

Departmental Strategic Plan. SIGPR published a Strategic Plan for FY 2021 - 2023 and will 

publish a new component plan that aligns bureau activities and priorities to the Department’s in 

2023. 

By the end of FY 2021, during the worst pandemic in over a century resulting in socio-economic 

challenges, SIGPR succeeded in expeditiously establishing a workable near-term initial 

minimally operational baseline by onboarding 56 staff of highly capable, experienced 

investigators, auditors, legal, and administrative experts. SIGPR developed and executed a 

recruitment and hiring strategy, a procurement and acquisition plan, and an information 
technology capital plan; executed an occupancy agreement with the General Services 

Administration (GSA); developed a myriad of policies, procedures, and manuals to govern 

SIGPR’s work in the key areas of audits, investigations, and critical mission support services. 

In FY 2023, SIGPR has continued to diligently follow the facts through the Office of Audits 

(OA) and Investigations (OI), working collaboratively with other Offices of Inspectors General, 

the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force, the Department of 

Justice (DOJ) COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network, and other Federal Offices of Inspector General and law enforcement agencies to 

uncover large-scale and far-reaching fraud, waste, and abuse of CARES program funds. 

Budget Highlights

Dollars in Thousands

Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery FTE Amount

FY 2023 Operating Plan 39 $12,000 

Changes to Base:

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs): 0 $529 

Pay Annualization (20234.6% average pay raise) 0 $107 

Pay Raise (2024 5.2% average pay raise) 0 $368 

Non-Pay 0 $54 

Subtotal Changes to Base 0 $529 

FY 2024 Current Services 39 $12,529 

Program Changes:

Program Increases:

Audits & Investigations 16 $3,471 

Subtotal Program Changes 16 $3,471 

FY 2024 President's Budget Request 55 $16,000 

Budget Adjustments

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) .......................................................... +$529,000 / +0 FTE 

Pay Annualization (4.6%) +$107,000 / +0 FTE

Funds are requested for annualization of the January 2023 4.6% average pay raise.

Pay Raise (5.2%) +$368,000 / +0 FTE

Funds are requested for a 5.2% average pay raise in January 2024. 

Non-Pay +$54,000 / +0 FTE 

Funds are requested for non-labor expenses such as travel, contracts, rent, supplies and equipment. 

Program Increases .............................................................+$3,471,000 / +16 FTE 

Audits and Investigations +$3,471,000 / +16 FTE 

Funding is requested for increased audits and investigations staffing to administer the expected 

significant increase in active case load and the expected DOJ prosecutorial team support 

requirements in FY 2024. 

Legislative Proposals 

SIGPR has no legislative proposals. 
Performance Highlights 

FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024

Budget Activity Performance Measure Actual Actual Actual Target Target

Audit and Investigations

Percentage of Audit Products 

Delivered to Stakeholders by the 

Due Date

B 100 100 67 67

Audit and Investigations

Percentage of Audit Products 

Subjected to Implementation 

Reviews

NA B NA 50 50

Key: B - Baseline

Description of Performance

For FY 2024, the target for Percentage of Audit Products Delivered When Promised to 

Stakeholders will remain at 66.6 percent. The target for conducting Implementation Reviews will 

also remain at 50 percent. SIGPR believes that these targets are best attained through effective 

monitoring of ongoing audit work and essential communication with the Treasury regarding 

findings and the most appropriate recommendations for corrective action. Consequently, 

SIGPR’s Office of Audits will continue to accentuate the importance of these processes with 

Treasury leadership. 

• Percentage of Audit Products Delivered to Stakeholders by the Due Date - SIGPR’s products 

will have a more significant impact if they are delivered when needed to support 

congressional and Treasury decision making. 

• Percentage of Audit Products Subjected to Implementation Reviews - The SIGPR Office of 

Audits has established a process to review and verify the implementation actions taken by 

Treasury on SIGPR recommendations. This measure assesses SIGPR’s effect on improving 

Treasury’s accountability, operations, and services. 

As part of the audit process, Treasury provides a written response and action plan to address 

SIGPR audit recommendations. Audit resolution is achieved when SIGPR accepts Treasury’s 

time phased plan of action to implement each recommendation. 

In FY 2021, SIGPR conducted an implementation review on the audit product issued in the 

prior fiscal year and found that Treasury management had fully implemented the report’s 

recommendation. Implementation Reviews are only performed on Generally Accepted 

Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) Audits that contain recommendations that were 

fully implemented in accordance with the Auditees Written Response and Action Plan that 

was accepted by Audits during the audit resolution process – during FY 2022, there were no 

GAGAS Audits that met these criteria. 

Audit Operations

The most recent highlights from 2022 4th Quarter (October – December 2022) include: 

• The Office of Audits issued its FY 2023 audit plan on October 17, 2022. 

• Completed independent reviews of three Direct Loan Validation Memoranda:

o Ovation Travel Group - Identified several material deficiencies in the Validation 

Memorandum. 

o Caribbean Sun Airlines & Timco Engine Center - Identified minor discrepancies in the 

Validation Memoranda. 
The results of these attestation reviews (Ovation Travel Group, Caribbean Sun Airlines and 

Timco Engine Center) will be summarized in a separate document covering all the attestation 

reviews and will also be included with the overall audit of the Direct Loan Program.

The Office of Audits also has efforts underway to review loan loss information related to the 

Main Street Lending Program (MSLP). As of February 10, 2023, the MSLP has recognized 

approximately $95 million in actual loan losses, net of subsequent recoveries. After efforts to 

obtain MSLP loan loss information through Treasury and from the Federal Reserve were

unsuccessful, SIGPR issued subpoenas to the top 11 MSLP participating lender banks. The top 

11 lenders represent 707 of the 1,830 MSLP loans, valued at just over $5 billion of the $17.5 

billion in loans issued. The subpoenas request information from the banks on MSLP loans with 

defaults, impairments, late interest payments, delinquent financial reporting, and borrowers who 

made material misrepresentations in their MSLP applications. The Office of Audits will review 

information received from the banks and determine how to incorporate the information into 

potential audits. SIGPR plans to send subpoenas to additional banks in the near future. 

Significant progress has been made on the following four ongoing audits:

• Audit of Treasury’s Process for Approving its $700 million Direct Loan to YRC Worldwide, 

Inc.

• Audit of Treasury’s Monitoring of the Direct Loan Program

• Audit of $195 million Direct Loan Program Borrower

• Audit of Treasury’s Use of Outside Entities

Investigation Operations

Office of Investigations (OI) continues coalition building and leveraging professional 

relationships with its colleagues across the Inspector General community, as well as working 

collaboratively with other Offices of Inspectors General, the Pandemic Response Accountability 

Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force, the Department of Justice (DOJ) COVID-19 Fraud 

Enforcement Task Force, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and other law enforcement 

agencies to uncover large-scale and far-reaching fraud, waste, and abuse of CARES program 

funds.

The most recent highlights include:

• Notable case trendline growth by steadily increasing quantity of investigative case load to a 

total of 37 open cases, in addition to 16 closed cases, and 31 preliminary inquiries converted 

to full investigations.

• SIGPR investigations involve 86 percent of other CARES Act program funds.

• SIGPR’s proactive initiatives accounted for initiating more than 93 percent of its active Main 

Street Lending Program/Direct Loan investigative casework to date.

• The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) extended its authority to 

investigate pandemic-related fraud to SIGPR through a Memorandum of Understanding, 

resulting in five SIGPR special agents assigned to the PRAC Fraud Task Force on a parttime basis.
After staffing OI with criminal investigators: 

• In December 2021, SIGPR obtained its first indictment, involving false statements to 

fraudulently obtain more than $1.6 million in federal funds for business loans intended to 

relieve financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• In early January 2022, a SIGPR-initiated investigation resulted in a guilty plea related to a 

loan obtained through the MSLP, a lending facility established by the Federal Reserve 

Board and supported with Treasury’s investment in CARES Act funds. As part of the plea, 

it was agreed to include court-ordered restitution in the amount of $252,143. 

• In late March 2022, another SIGPR-initiated investigation resulted in the arrest of an 

individual related to fraudulently obtaining a loan through the Main Street Lending 

Program and Small Business Administration Payroll Protection Program (PPP) funds. In 

April 2022, the individual was indicted. In August 2022, the individual plead guilty. 

In February 2023, the individual was sentenced to 78 months incarceration, three 

years supervised release, and ordered to pay over $2.6 million in restitution. 

• SIGPR conducted various outreach efforts to include participating in the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation’s Bank Fraud Conference, training Civil and Criminal Assistant U.S. 

Attorneys on CARES Act programs, and coordinating with the DOJ Fraud Sections (Civil 

and Criminal), as well as U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country to deconflict and 

develop leads.
Description of Performance

SIGPR is continuing to develop/refine performance measures for the Investigations 

programs. Below is SIGPR’s ‘Behind the Badge’ Investigative Fact Sheet with potential key 

metrics:

Hotline Complaints

Hotline Complaints Received 2,144

Referrals to Other Agencies 729

Investigations

Ongoing* 34

Closed** 12

Preliminary Inquiries Converted to Full Investigations 30

Criminal Actions †

Referrals to the Department of Justice 19

Indictments/Informations 3

Criminal Complaints 1

Arrests/Summons 3

Convictions/Pleas 2

Civil Actions

Referrals to the Department of Justice*** 3

Other Enforcement Actions

IG Subpoenas Issued 35

Investigative Monetary Results

Funds Seized $808,813

* Includes all SIGPR program-related cases, including PRAC Fraud Task Force investigations 

and joint investigations with other agencies.

† Actions reported include those resulting from PRAC Fraud Task Force investigations and joint investigations 

with other agencies.

** Includes cases initially closed and subsequently re-opened.

*** Note: Same case may have been referred to DOJ both criminally and civilly.