DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Illinois taxpayers were ripped off for hundreds of thousands of dollars by state government employees who defrauded the federal government Paycheck Protection (PPP) loan program.
The Office of the Executive Inspector General released the findings in its 2025 annual report, released in December.
The PPP program came out during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It provided a way for small business owners to pay their employees while shutdowns prevented people from working.
The Inspector General examined cases where state employees took out loans, most for over $20,000, for what they claimed were small businesses they owned. However, the businesses were usually fraudulent and existed only on paper.
"The reality is our taxpayers are getting crushed here in Illinois," State Rep. Regan Deering told WAND News. "There’s absolutely no excuse for state employees to be ripping us off as well."
Employees caught by the Executive Inspector General’s Office were eventually terminated or resigned from their positions. Several were prosecuted.
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