RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — More than $47 million in fraudulent unemployment payments went out the door in North Carolina over a five-year period, according to a new state audit that also flagged delays in getting benefits to claimants.

The State Auditor’s Office found the North Carolina Division of Employment Security distributed $47.2 million in fraudulent unemployment payments between 2021 and 2025.

“North Carolina had an abysmal rate of recovery and issuing payments that were not appropriate,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said. “Many of them were outright fraudulent.”

According to Boliek, NCDES has recovered about $12.2 million of those funds, but the rest is likely gone forever.

“Once you have a fraudulent transaction and [those funds] are out the door, timing is important to recovering those funds,” he said. “You need to get on it quick in order to get that money back. Otherwise, tracking those dollars down is virtually impossible at this point.”

NCDES Assistant Secretary Marc-Antoine Keith pushed back, saying they are working to recover the money, no matter how long it takes.

“We’re going to be recovering it this year, next year, five years from now,” he said. “We don’t have a timeline. This is not something that we just write off and say, ‘You’re good.’ We’re in the heart of it right now.”

NCDES officials also noted the fraud identified in the audit amounts to less than 1% of the more than $5 billion in unemployment benefits paid during the same period.

According to NCDES, roughly $40 million of the fraudulent payments happened during the COVID-19 pandemic when unemployment claims surged and the state was tasked with administering enhanced federal benefits of $600 per week.

Keith said the department received 1 million claims in just 10 weeks. By comparison, NCDES typically handles about 3,000 to 3,500 claims a week.

“The $600 put North Carolina at a higher profile for bad actors coming into the system,” he said. “We also were under tremendous pressure to get money out the door. Pay, pay, pay, pay, pay. That was the message from the federal government.”

Boliek questioned why it took the agency years to fully implement a federally funded fraud detection system. He said NCDES received a federal grant to strengthen fraud prevention efforts but did not fully deploy the system for three years.

“The pandemic is not an excuse for government’s failure to monitor the expenditure of taxpayer dollars,” he said.

Keith disputed that characterization, pointing to staffing shortages, competing priorities, and Hurricane Helene as reasons for the delay.

“The reality is that we only have so many hands,” he said. “As we got going with this process, then the hurricane came in.”

According to Keith, the fraud detection system was rolled out in phases between April and December 2024 rather than all at once.

The audit also identified problems with delayed payments. According to the report, 28% of initial unemployment payments went out after the federal 14-day benchmark.

“That’s just not acceptable,” Boliek said. “We’ve got to do better than that.

According to Boliek, delays can have serious consequences for families relying on unemployment benefits after losing a job.

“When you’re unemployed or you get laid off, that’s when your family is in a traumatic situation,” he said. “You need to be able to rely on the state to answer the call there and get your benefits to you.”

Keith acknowledged there is still room for improvement but said DES has made progress since the period covered by the audit.

“We’re not where we want to be, but we’re a heck of a lot closer than where we were,” Keith said.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Many Father’s Day events were held across western North Carolina, celebrating fathers, including at Highland Brewing, where a market was held.

Over 100 vendors applied to set up for the event on the longest day of the year.

ASHEVILLE GETS A BUZZ ON AT HIGHLAND BREWING AS HONEYFEST CELEBRATES POLLINATORS

Event coordinator Monica Maybille says it’s important to treat fathers to a little gift.

“It’s your dad. You gotta get stuff for your dad. They do a lot for you, so you got to treat them to a little treat sometimes,” Maybille said.

HIGHLAND BREWING HOSTS TRIBUTE PARTY HONORING LATE FOUNDER OSCAR WONG’S COMMUNITY IMPACT

The event included some dad-themed gifts, including grilling supplies and funny T-shirts.

The next market at Highland Brewing is planned for August and will focus on back-to-school.

“I’m not sure that we’re in a place where legalizing marijuana is going to be taken up.”

By Brandon Kingdollar, NC Newsline

A new bill proposed by North Carolina Senate Democrats would put constitutional amendments to legalize recreational and medical cannabis on the ballot. But its odds of getting a vote in the Senate are not high, Republican leadership says.

Senate Bill 1072 would put two separate amendments on the ballot in November, asking voters to legalize possession of “limited amounts of cannabis” for recreational use and medical use by patients with qualifying conditions, respectively.

“The people of North Carolina deserve a voice in determining the future of cannabis policy in our state,” said Sen. Kandie Smith (D-Edgecombe), one of the bill’s lead sponsors. “What it does is, it provides a pathway for North Carolinians to vote on whether limited personal possession and medical use should be permitted under our state’s constitution.”

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) had a blunt response: “I’m not sure that we’re in a place where legalizing marijuana is going to be taken up,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

“I think there is some interest in looking at the hemp situation and the components of hemp and the sale of some of the derivatives,” Berger said. “It’s really undetermined whether we’re talking about a complete ban, or we’re talking about a regulatory scheme, or we’re talking about including these and not including those. There are just discussions that are taking place as to what we garner consensus over.”

One such proposal currently moving through the House would ban individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing hemp-derived consumables.

Berger has lent support to medical marijuana in the past. In 2024, the Senate passed a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana while restricting hemp-based consumables. The bill, which passed by a margin of 36-10, was championed by Senate Rules Chairman Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick), a cancer survivor who said cannabis helped him withstand intensive chemotherapy for colon cancer.

However, the House declined to take up Rabon’s bill due to insufficient GOP support in that chamber. North Carolina remains one of only 10 states that have not yet approved medical marijuana.

In the absence of a medical cannabis program in North Carolina, many have turned to the state’s burgeoning hemp industry to meet what they describe as medical needs, such as alleviating pain, insomnia, and anxiety among other conditions. Many of those products, however, are set to disappear following much stricter federal restrictions on hemp-based consumables set to take effect in November.

The Meredith College Poll found in February 2025 that 71 percent of North Carolinians support the passage of a bill permitting medical marijuana, with 17 percent of respondents opposed. Polls by Elon University and progressive think tank Carolina Forward have also shown majorities in favor of recreational marijuana in recent years.

Sen. Caleb Theodros (D-Mecklenburg), another lead sponsor of S1072, said the bill would allow state law to catch up with public opinion on cannabis use.

“If the legislature cannot resolve this issue after years of debate, who should? I believe the answer is simple, and it’s the people of North Carolina,” Theodros said. “Senate Bill 1072 provides an opportunity for voters to have a direct voice on an issue that has remained unresolved for far too long.”

He said Berger has acknowledged momentum around cannabis legislation in the past year, an apparent reference to the Senate Leader’s past comments on medical cannabis. That makes him “cautiously optimistic” about the bill’s fate.

“We’re aware of the political climate in this building. But again, we didn’t get elected to just sit on our hands and say we’re in the superminority and therefore there’s nothing we could ever do,” Theodros said. “We’re just trying to move along our colleagues here and to join the rest of America and the rest of the planet in suggesting that we need to have some kind of policy on this.”

This story was first published by NC Newsline.

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.