Kendall County Times

In a June 17 Facebook post, Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) highlighted the IDES pandemic losses tied to fraud.

"A recent audit has revealed that more than half of the $3.6 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance paid out in Illinois from July 2020 through June 2021 was tied to fraud," Batinick posted on Facebook.

A report released on June 16 revealed that nearly $2 billion in federal money for Illinois residents who were out of work was misappropriated. According to the Chicago Tribune, "the audit offers the first estimate for Illinois' share of the mammoth fraud that swept the country during the pandemic as states were hit with a deluge of unemployment claims. The audit covers much of the period the program was in use, from July 2020 through June 2021."

On May 13, CBS 2 reported that IDES had lost $1.2 million of taxpayer funds to fraud during the pandemic. "On Jan. 10, CBS 2 filed an appeal with the Illinois Attorney General's Office, asking the agency to review IDES' denial for potential FOIA violations. That process revealed what IDES originally told CBS 2 wasn't true: the agency actually does track how much it has paid back claimants due to fraud. As a result, on March 31 IDES was forced to send the data to CBS 2. It contains information on more than 1,000 tracers that were filed by claimants from January 2021 through March of this year. That's more than 1,000 times IDES paid people back, after they reported they never received their benefits."

By February 2022, state leaders had identified more than 1 million affected by fraud through IDES, and while claimants were willing to talk to the media, IDES has been reluctant to share data.