Criminals stole billions while needy Californians waited months for help.
Assembly Republicans Tom Lackey (Palmdale) and Jim Patterson (Fresno) were featured in a documentary by Sacramento TV station KCRA about the failures of the Employment Development Department that allowed thieves to steal $20 billion from fake benefits claims, while unemployed Californians waited months for their benefits.
“This documentary is an excellent and detailed investigative report on the worst fraud in our state's history,” said Lackey. “Every taxpaying Californian needs to watch this to fully understand how badly their government failed them when they needed help. There is no excuse for a failure of this magnitude in the 5th largest economy in the world.”
Eighteen months into the COVID pandemic, EDD is still has a backlog of more than 11,500 unemployment claims. Meanwhile, the former federal prosecutor spearheading the investigation into the fraudulent payments admits “at the end of the day it’s all going to be pennies on the dollar,” that the state is able to recover.
California needs to hold officials accountable for creating a system that allowed this to happen and fix EDD so Californians can get the help they need.
Assembly Republicans Tom Lackey (Palmdale) and Jim Patterson (Fresno) were featured in a documentary by Sacramento TV station KCRA about the failures of the Employment Development Department that allowed thieves to steal $20 billion from fake benefits claims, while unemployed Californians waited months for their benefits.
“This documentary is an excellent and detailed investigative report on the worst fraud in our state's history,” said Lackey. “Every taxpaying Californian needs to watch this to fully understand how badly their government failed them when they needed help. There is no excuse for a failure of this magnitude in the 5th largest economy in the world.”
Eighteen months into the COVID pandemic, EDD is still has a backlog of more than 11,500 unemployment claims. Meanwhile, the former federal prosecutor spearheading the investigation into the fraudulent payments admits “at the end of the day it’s all going to be pennies on the dollar,” that the state is able to recover.
California needs to hold officials accountable for creating a system that allowed this to happen and fix EDD so Californians can get the help they need.
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