U.S. sent $1.3 billion in small business covid aid abroad, raising new fraud fears

As the U.S. government raced to shore up small businesses' finances at the height of the pandemic, it may have erroneously awarded more than $1.3 billion to foreign applicants— raising new suspicions that the program might have helped fund overseas crime syndicates. Congress required the SBA to disburse its EIDL aid only to those businesses affected by the…