WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Hundreds of people have been charged with the theft of more than $830 million in COVID-19 emergency aid following a nationwide operation conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.

More than 60 of the defendants have alleged connection to organized crime, the department said, including members of a criminal gang accused of using stolen pandemic aid to pay for a murder.

“This latest action, involving over 300 defendants and more than $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should send a clear message: the COVID-19 public health emergency may have ended, but the Justice Department’s work to identify and prosecute those who stole pandemic relief funds is far from over,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The three-month operation, which concluded in July, resulted in more than 300 people being charged.

Most of the money was taken from three large pandemic-relief initiatives designed to help small businesses and unemployed workers survive economic upheaval caused by the pandemic. Nearly 3,200 defendants have been charged with COVID-19 aid fraud, according to the new Justice Department figures. About $1.4 billion in stolen pandemic aid has been seized.

The murder-for-hire case cited by Justice officials involved alleged members of a Milwaukee gang, known as Wild 100s, according to court records. Federal prosecutors said the gang stole millions of dollars in pandemic unemployment assistance and used part of the money to purchase guns, drugs and to pay to have a person killed.

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