Delta repays government to settle claims it misused COVID relief funds

Delta Air Lines has paid the federal government $8.1 million to settle claims that it misused a portion of the $11.9 billion in taxpayer dollars it received as emergency aid during the pandemic, according to the Justice Department. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia investigated after a whistleblower alleged Delta had violated executive pay limits connected with the federal funding, $8.2 billion of it in the form of grants that didn’t have to be repaid. A $425,000 cap on executive pay was supposed to be in effect between March 2020 and April 2023. Federal attorneys concluded Delta had paid some executives more than that, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday, adding that Delta then allegedly falsely certified its compliance with the caps and failed to notify the Treasury Department of its breach of the agreement. If true, this would have been a violation of the rules of the Payroll Support Program established by Congress under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Delta’s payment settled the allegations without determining liability, prosecutors said, noting that the whistleblower got a cut of the settlement money. Still, U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg suggested the company misused public dollars. “When companies accept federal assistance, especially generous pandemic-relief funds like those at issue here, they owe a duty to the American people to respect the conditions placed on those funds,” Hertzberg said. “We will continue to enforce all available laws to punish the misuse of taxpayers’ money.” The post Delta repays government to settle claims it misused COVID relief funds appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.