Press Release  OIG Completes Review of Nantucket Airport Federal Pandemic Relief Funds Usage

In a letter sent yesterday, Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro informed the Nantucket Memorial Airport officials that the Office of the Inspector General’s Internal Special Audit Unit (ISAU) found that the $10,020,437 in federal pandemic relief grants were used appropriately.

“The federal government provided trillions of dollars in grants to communities across the country in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic.  This office, as well as many others, have identified numerous cases of fraud in the use of these funds,” IG Shapiro said. “I think it is important for the public to know that, in most instances, those funds were used in the way the granting authority intended.  The Office of the Inspector General found that the Nantucket Memorial Airport’s use of the federal funds met the Federal Aviation Administration’s criteria for how the funds were to be used and the timeframe in which they were to be expended.”

The Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) mission is to prevent and detect the fraud, waste and abuse of public funds and property. Within the OIG, the Internal Special Audit Unit (ISAU) was created by the Legislature in 2009 to monitor transportation and transit programs and spending. The ISAU manages a public-facing fraud hotline for Massachusetts residents and employees to report alleged fraudulent acts and performs proactive reviews to promote transparency and efficiency in government.

If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse of transportation funds, please contact 855-963-2580 or MassDOTFraudHotline@mass.gov.

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