Fraudsters Targeting Employee Relief and Disaster Loan Programs The second major rounds of small business and personal relief programs are open for business, and the demand remains very high. In response to the breathtaking impact on the economy during the pandemic, hundreds of billions of federal aid dollars are moving through loans in the SBA’s […]
Category Archives: COVID-19
Recent FTC Actions To Stem Virulent Schemes The COVID-19 pandemic has yielded no shortage of fraudulent schemes to fool consumers into wasting their money. Charlatans have unleashed a flurry of unsubstantiated coronavirus treatment and prevention claims to promote dubious products and services, preying on consumers’ hopes and fears. Last week alone, the FTC staff sent […]
Beware of Tax Fraud Scams: Don’t Trust Inquiries on Tax Returns and Federal COVID-19 Payments
April 28, 2020
On March 23, 2020, the Department of Justice and the IRS issued important reminders to taxpayers on how scammers are using tax filings and economic impact payments from the federal government related to COVID-19. As we previously reported, bad actors are engaging in schemes to steal personal information and money, particularly from vulnerable persons. The […]
Understanding and Navigating Federal, Illinois and Missouri COVID-19 Environmental Enforcement Discretion Policies
April 21, 2020
The shelter-in-place orders and essential business guidelines and directives that have been issued by the federal government and the states of Illinois and Missouri have raised questions about the feasibility of compliance with environmental requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. As outlined below, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”), Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“IEPA”) and […]
COVID-19 has created unprecedented health, social, business, and economic challenges that demand creative and innovative solutions. In some areas the public interest would be served by collaboration among competitors to devise solutions and get needed products and services where they are most needed to fight the virus. Antitrust and competition enforcers worldwide have seen the […]
What’s the Outlook for Insurance Producers’ Liability if Their Clients’ COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims are Denied?
April 20, 2020
Not long after governors and mayors issued orders shutting down non-essential businesses as a safeguard against the spread of COVID-19, we read countless emails and blog posts about how those entities’ business interruption coverages might apply to businesses shut down by the pandemic. Most writers conclude the ISO forms almost certainly will not indemnify the […]
Cybersecurity in the COVID-19 Pandemic—Let’s Be Careful “In” There: Resources You Can Use
April 14, 2020
The global pandemic impacts virtually every aspect of life—including our physical and financial conditions and our relationships with others—in profound ways. Since time immemorial, criminals have used uncertain and disruptive events to prey on people. But we should be safer from security intrusions while social distancing in this stay-at-home, work-from-home era, right? Wrong. Today’s online […]
Defaults During a Global Pandemic
March 31, 2020
April 1 closes out one of the longest months Americans have felt in a while, and with it comes another big financial difficulty facing the country: Rent. Landlords and lenders alike will find themselves in the unsettling reality that many of their renters and borrowers cannot stay current during this pandemic. Only a few months […]
Tackling COVID-19 in the Workplace: Expanded Unemployment Eligibility and Benefits under the CARES Act are Just What the Doctor Ordered
March 31, 2020
Health experts have explained the need to “flatten the curve” through mandatory and voluntary social isolation. These painful yet necessary efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have sparked a crisis in employment which is on course to surpass even the worst days of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Nationwide, millions have been laid off within a […]
Maintaining Legal Ethics During a Global Pandemic
March 28, 2020
In late 2019, Chinese health officials informed the World Health Organization (“WHO”) of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak.[1] Now, a quickly spreading virus known as Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) has infected people in multiple countries around the world. To date, almost half a million people have contracted the virus, and just over 22,000 cases have resulted in death […]