Chicago\u2019s top watchdog is heading for the exit \u2014 but not before dropping one last fraud bombshell on the Chicago Police Department.<\/p>\n
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said Wednesday her office has nailed nine Chicago cops in the first four months of the year for allegedly scamming COVID-era relief funds.<\/p>\n
Eight of the officers have been recommended for firing by the police department after investigators dug into their Paycheck Protection Program loan applications \u2014 cash meant to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Another cop quit while under investigation.<\/p>\n
All told, the alleged ripoffs totaled $284,000, according to Witzburg\u2019s first quarter 2026 report.<\/p>\n
Eight more of the officers are waiting to find out whether the police department will move to fire them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a triage effort, and we are not done yet,\u201d Witzburg said. \u201cThe reason we prioritized CPD cases is because they occupy positions of tremendous public trust and they land on the witness stand, so their credibility is of paramount importance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in 2023, Witzburg\u2019s office flagged more than 1,000 potential instances of PPP fraud by city employees, including police officers, firefighters and others.<\/p>\n
Her message to anyone who thinks they have slipped through the cracks?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to defraud the government and work for the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witzburg, who steps down at the end of the month, reported late last year that her office found two sergeants and another officer engaged in PPP fraud<\/a>. The officer had snagged an $18,000 loan for an insurance business that didn\u2019t exist. PPP loans were usually forgiven, meaning they didn\u2019t have to be repaid.<\/p>\n The police department has agreed to seek the firing of the eight officers Witzburg identified in her latest quarterly report. Her office is waiting for the department to respond to eight other PPP fraud cases that Witzburg sustained. <\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t name the suspected officers in her reports.<\/p>\n In a separate federal investigation, former officers Torrey Price and Aaron Price are facing criminal charges<\/a>. They\u2019re accused of raking in more than $2 million by filing about 100 bogus loan applications tied to PPP and another federal aid program.<\/p>\n The PPP program was rife with fraud amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars. Even people behind bars \u2014 and their guards \u2014 were suspected of cashing in<\/a>, saying they needed help for their phony businesses, the Chicago Sun-Times has found.<\/p>\n