Stephen Council

The battle has begun over billions of dollars allegedly stolen during the pandemic, pitting state officials against a web of scammers and their own private contractors. With another stimulus bill poised to inject more cash into a leaky system, taxpayers could be left holding the bag.

After the Great Recession, California signed an exclusive contract with Bank of America to distribute unemployment benefits through prepaid debit cards. A CalMatters investigation reveals that to this day, no one knows how much the bank has made off the deal. Lawmakers are examining the bank’s role in mass account freezes and untold amounts of missing money for thousands of struggling jobless Californians — as well as where the bank may have failed to keep unemployment money safe from fraud.

As California's unemployment agency tries to cut off fraudsters, real unemployed Californians have found their benefit accounts suddenly frozen.

More than 7.6 million Californians have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic triggered a recession. Navigating the assistance program has been filled with frustration.

Hello! We’re publishing more of our work in Spanish to better serve our diverse state. Make sure to click here to read the article in English. Cheques perdidos. Maratón en espera. Misteriosas penalidades financieras derivadas de pagos que prometen un salvavidas en medio de extrema incertidumbre. Bienvenidos al mundo del desempleo en California en la era del […]