Dave Ferrantthold is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He calls the misallocation of some of this money, the biggest fraud in American history. "All it took to get that money was a willingness to lie and not much more," he says.
As the coronavirus pandemic disrupted business in the US, the government sent billions of dollars to people and businesses that were affected. That led to an epidemic of financial scams.
This episode was produced by Jon Ehrens, fact-checked by Serena Solin and Tori Dominguez, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and edited by Matt Collette and Noel King, who also hosted.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices