A USAID procurement officer faces fraud charges after allegedly creating a fake company to steal COVID-19 relief funds, exposing yet another case of pandemic aid exploitation that has already seen billions of taxpayer dollars misappropriated.
At a Glance
- Yusuf Akoll, a Senior Procurement Contract Specialist at USAID, allegedly created a fake company to fraudulently obtain PPP loans
- Akoll falsely claimed his company was established in January 2020 and had $40,000 in 2019 income to qualify for approximately $16,666 in loans
- The case follows other major COVID relief fraud schemes, including a $20 million fraud ring led by Amir Aqeel who received a 15-year prison sentence
- Experts estimate that as much as $1 trillion in COVID relief funds may have been stolen, with much of it flowing overseas
Government Employee Exploits Relief Program
Federal prosecutors have charged Yusuf Akoll, a Senior Procurement Contract Specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with fraud for allegedly creating a fake business to steal pandemic relief funds. According to court documents, Akoll registered Naagode Consulting LLC in Virginia in November 2020 but falsely claimed on loan applications that the company had been operating since January 2020. This backdating was critical to qualifying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to help existing businesses retain employees during pandemic shutdowns.
To secure approval, Akoll allegedly fabricated financial information, claiming his non-existent company had earned $40,000 in 2019. This deception enabled him to obtain two separate PPP loans totaling approximately $16,666. The fraud charges highlight significant vulnerabilities in the government’s emergency relief programs, which disbursed funds without adequately verifying applicants’ claims or cross-referencing state corporation records with federal tax returns.
Pattern of Massive Relief Fraud
Akoll’s case represents just a tiny fraction of the estimated COVID relief fraud. In a separate and more extensive scheme, Amir Aqeel was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for orchestrating a $20 million PPP fraud operation. Aqeel’s network submitted over 75 fraudulent loan applications with falsified employee numbers and payroll expenses. The ill-gotten funds were used to purchase luxury items including houses, a Porsche, and a Lamborghini. Federal authorities executed 45 seizure warrants to recover assets acquired with the stolen money.
Five additional conspirators in Aqeel’s fraud ring received prison sentences ranging from two to three years and five months. The scheme involved cashing more than 1,100 fake paychecks totaling over $3 million through a company owned by one of the participants. Investigators from multiple federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Department of Homeland Security collaborated to bring down this extensive operation.
“Amir Aqeel engaged in one of the largest PPP conspiracies in the country,”, said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Staggering Scale of Pandemic Relief Theft
The true scale of COVID relief fraud continues to shock investigators and taxpayers alike. According to Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions, approximately $1 trillion in pandemic relief funds may have been stolen, with a substantial portion flowing overseas. Despite this staggering figure, some government officials have been reluctant to pursue full accountability. The Biden administration decided not to seek repayment of fraudulent loans under $100,000, despite warnings from the Small Business Administration’s inspector general about the message this sends to fraudsters.
The future of fraud oversight remains uncertain. The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, specifically created to investigate pandemic bailout fraud, was nearly allowed to expire in March 2025. Some critics, including Senator Ed Markey, questioned the office’s effectiveness due to low recovery rates, while others strongly advocated for its continuation. These oversight challenges reveal the difficulties in reclaiming taxpayer funds once they’ve been improperly distributed.
“I will not allow fraudsters to get away with stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers.”, said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
The prosecution of Akoll and others represents the government’s ongoing efforts to hold accountable those who exploited emergency pandemic programs. However, the continued discovery of new fraud cases years after the programs ended raises serious questions about government oversight and the true cost of pandemic relief to American taxpayers. The Justice Department continues to encourage the public to report any information about COVID-19 fraud to the National Center for Disaster Fraud.