Earlier this month, the Alabama Department of Labor revealed more than 389,000 cases of potential unemployment fraud pending investigation during a meeting of the Alabama Legislature’s contract review committee.

According to Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington, the high number of potential cases stemmed from the introduction of additional federal benefits for the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the relaxation of requirements to expedite payments.

During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Washington blamed “fraudsters” and “bad actors” for exploiting the situation.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, there was some federal legislation that caused all labor agencies to administer five brand new programs, and that was something that had never happened before,” he said. “People were laid off through no fault of their own at the start of the pandemic, and so, a lot of eligibility requirements for [unemployment insurance] were relaxed just so we could expedite those payments as quickly as we possibly could. Well, there were fraudsters or bad actors who were sitting on the sidelines, seeing that the rules and regulations were relaxed. They figured out a way they could defraud and pull down those funds illegally, and so that is what caused it.”

“We paid out over $5.4 billion in benefits,” Washington continued. “That’s more benefits than we paid out in the last eight years combined. We also blocked about $5 billion in fraudulent claims, and that is because we put safety protocols in place and upgraded our systems just to sort of turn back these bad actors. We also have about $1 billion that has the potential to be fraud that we are viewing as we speak.”

Washington vowed those suspected of committing fraud would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law but also said these problems were not just unique to Alabama.

“We’ve been very fortunate that we’re experiencing a lot of collaboration with both the local district attorney offices, the state attorney general’s office and [the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency] to help us find out who these people are that is going to lead to arrests,” Washington explained. “[I]t has the potential to be fraud, which means this collaboration with other agencies — we’re looking to determine what is fraud. And again, for the ones who have committed this crime, they’re going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“I must say this issue is just not unique to Alabama,” he continued. “All labor agencies across the country are dealing with this challenge, and so again, it is not unique as to what we are dealing with.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.