Truckers, Babysitters Targeted by Feds in Pandemic Loan Cases

The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi is leading the way when it comes to the government’s use of the False Claims Act to target alleged Paycheck Protection Program fraud.

Oxford, Miss.-based federal prosecutor Clay Joyner has brought more than 80% of the government’s known civil suits seeking to recoup money to which his office asserts some borrowers weren’t entitled, suing an auto mechanic, a baby sitting service, and a landscaper, and obtaining consent judgments from a trucking company and a jeweler.

“While we cannot speak for what other US Attorney’s offices will be doing, our filings ...