City employees face firing after PPP fraud, misconduct
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A city employee spent hours of work time at a social club, another fabricated an on-duty injury to get workers' compensation and at least two members of the Chicago Police Department obtained fraudulent PPP loans, per a new fourth-quarter report from the city's Office of the Inspector General.
Why it matters: The report reflects efforts to curb corruption and save taxpayer money amid an ongoing city budget crisis.
- It's also one of the last reports that will be helmed by outgoing IG Deborah Witzburg, who has clashed with Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration and says she will step down in April after having secured new safeguards.
Zoom in: While city officials don't always follow OIG recommendations, the office says CPD leaders agreed with their guidance to terminate employees involved in the fraudulent loan cases.
- The report does not name anyone specifically.
What they're saying: "These PPP cases represent an enormous investment of investigative resources, and we will continue to report out on their outcomes," Witzburg said in a statement.
- "I am pleased to report that to date City departments have agreed to fire every City employee against whom we have sustained PPP fraud allegations; I continue to believe that people cannot both work for the government and defraud the government."
By the numbers: The targets of 290 active investigations by the OIG at the end of the quarter include:
- 246 city workers
- 20 elected officials
- 19 contractors or people seeking city contracts and five others.
- 289 of the investigations are for misconduct, and one is for ineffectiveness.
OIG staff reviewed 266 individual closed disciplinary investigations conducted by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and CPD's Bureau of Internal Affairs and recommended 24 of them be reopened for a material deficiency in the investigation.
- Witzburg reports that her office's work this quarter resulted in the return of more than $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions.
You can read the full report here.