The Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General (OEIG) made headlines on Monday when the Chicago Tribune reported on its investigation that determined the top human resources official at a state agency had improperly approved $1.4 million in extra pay for employees, including almost $52,000 for herself.

 

It’s an eye-watering sum and the most significant example of misconduct in a slate of reports made public last week by the OEIG, which investigates fraud, waste and abuses in state government.

 

But the bulk of the newly released investigations pertain to state employees who the office says fraudulently obtained federal loans designed to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. More than five years after the loan program stopped accepting applications, the OEIG is still closing out fraud cases, showcasing how extensive abuses of the program were.