January 13, 2022
Joint Oversight Hearing Recap: Loss of $11 Billion Attributed to Poor Leadership
Lansing, Mich., January 13, 2022 – During today’s joint oversight committee hearing, more details emerged on how the Unemployment Insurance Agency’s failure to act under Gretchen Whitmer led to the department losing $11 billion to fraud.
In March of 2020, the UIA eliminated essential fraud safeguards, including Secretary of State crossmatch and removing staff from crucial fraud oversight positions. When asked the simple question of why they made those decisions, UIA leadership failed to answer.
“After watching today’s hearing, it is clear that the department completely opened up the floodgates to fraud in March of 2020 and apparently cannot tell us why,” said Eric Ventimiglia, Executive Director for Michigan Rising Action. Ventimiglia continued, “The ex-directors of the UIA and LEO received golden parachutes after getting fired but have yet to answer questions. Michiganders deserve to know the rationale behind their reckless decisions that led to $11 billion in losses.”