Small Business Administration Must Do More to Address Fraud, Payment Risks: GAO Official

Although the public health emergency from the COVID-19 pandemic is over, some government programs are still in place and being taken advantage of, a senior official from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) told the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on Dec. 10 “Fraud risks and improper payments didn’t disappear with the end of the public health emergency,” Courtney LaFountain, acting director of Financial Markets and Community Investments at the GAO, told the committee. She said her office has made dozens of recommendations for improvement within the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and its pandemic relief programs since June 2020....