president kamala harris, thanks to abby elliot. apologies to matt damon. we ran out of time for you, you s.o.b. "nightline" is next. thank you for watching, good night. ♪ this is "nightline." >> juju: tonight, missing billions. how million that was supposed to go to save small businesses during the pektd -- >> he said, ppp loan.

what? what was that? >> juju: -- really got spent. we dive deep to follow the money trail. >> you can't tell me you didn't know you couldn't buy a lamborghini or luxury yacht. >> juju: part of the most fraud-ridden government relief programs in u.s. history. we meet a former rapper who went to prison for fraud. >> you didn't have a thought, maybe this is too good to be true? >> no, i'm in the music business, we make money like this all the time. art or aliens? >> almost looks like a ifo. >> juju: from a hilltop in wales to a peek outside vegas, towering slabs of silver popping up in the most unlikely places on the globe. where do they come from? conspiracy theories in overdrive. plus the war heroes finally awarded the nation's highest plus the war heroes finally awarded the nation's highest honor more than 160 years later. pain means p on the things you love,

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oh, that's because i'm pre-cooling the house with the ac before 4 pm. then i'll turn our thermostat to a comfortable 78 or higher that way i could stay cool later. ooh, what about me? you're never cool. oh. ♪ >> juju: tonight, the ongoing hunt for billions of missing taxpayer dollars meant to keep the economy alive during the darkest days of the pandemic. those funds distributed to small businesses through federal loan programs. but not everyone who applied had good intentions.

some didn't even have businesses. here's abc's erielle reshef with an update. >> i'm not an insider. i have a certain set of skills. i know how to research, i know how to draft lawsuits. >> reporter: the coast of oregon might not seem like a hot spot for fighting fraud, but for brian questenberry, it's the perfect place to do just that. >> some people enjoy golfing. i enjoy finding these fraudsters. i get a sense of satisfaction. it's figuring out a puzzle, a mystery, solving it. >> reporter: his target, covid relief fraudsters. people and businesses that allegedly knowingly violated the $800 billion paycheck protection program meant to allow struggling businesses to keep paying employees during the pandemic. >> i'm looking for low-hanging fruit. something that's simple and straightforward. double-dipping, for example. i found some. they would get two loans in the first round, two loans in the

second round, you can't do that. >> reporter: government attorney by day, he scours publicly available data looking for loan applicants he believes broke the rules. >> that bothers me. that's my tax money, your tax money. >> reporter: if the government mike takes on one of his cases and succeeds in clawing back money, a percentage goes to questenberry. the paycheck protection program, ppp, was one part of a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill called the c.a.r.e.s. act passed by congress and signed by then president trump in 2020 in response to the covid-19 pandemic. >> last month, i asked congress to pass the paycheck protection program giving small businesses emergency economic relief to keep workers on the payroll. >> it was intended to be a program to give people money that they needed in desperate times. the emphasis at that time was ensuring that businesses were able to operate.

>> reporter: brit biles, former white house counsel during the trump administration, supervised the regulations and guidance surrounding the ppp and helped design the review and forgiveness program. >> it was set up on a self-certification process by the bar, based on good faith certifications that they needed the money and they were eligible. >> reporter: the need for speed saw the small business administration execute over 14 years' worth of lending in just 14 days. >> you could apply and essentially your word was taken at face value. did that stoke alarm? >> absolutely. their sole focus was speed. all i was asking for was to ask the right follow-up questions. >> reporter: how were your concerns received? >> let's just say the rain at the party. >> reporter: mike ware is the inspector general of the small business administration, the person responsible for oversight of all the sba's programs, including hunting down fraud in the ppp.

>> fraud is willfully putting down on the paper that you had 200 employees when you didn't even have a business. fraud is saying that you have a farm but your farm is? downtown manhattan. >> reporter: social media soon became host to videos explaining how to take advantage of the various loan programs. ♪ as the need for expediency lessened and the scope of fraud came into view, some guardrails were put into place. but ware says much of the damage was already done. >> these are not victimless crimes. the thousands and thousands of small businesses that did not get timely assistance, and you had people dry up in the first tranche and ineligible and fraudulent people were obtaining this money that could have gone to real small businesses that were in need. >> reporter: some fraudsters took advantage, the average person paid the price? >> that's it.

>> reporter: the vast majority of the loans were forgiven by the government if 60% was used for payroll. now a few years later, federal investigators say the ppp, along with its counterpart, economic injury disaster loans, make up the most fraud-ridden government relief program in u.s. history, potentially $200 billion obtained fraudulently. >> these rules were designed to assist in payroll. to keep people employed. you can't tell me that you didn't know that you couldn't buy a bentley or a lamborghini or a luxury yacht. >> reporter: feds say fraudsters used ppp funds to buy multimillion-dollar homes, luxury sports cars, yachts, even a private jet. when the fbi came knocking, one woman hid a duffel bag of cash, approximately $400,000 in the bushes behind her house. to date, the inspector general's oversight of the ppp and covid-19 idle programs has

brought 14,037 1,070 arrests, 7 any quictions. how much did you make off these ppp loans? >> it was substantial. >> reporter: in an abc news exclusive, we sat down with someone who was prim nally charged with exploiting ppp funds. diamond blue smith made a name for himself in the early 2000s as part of the r&b group pretty ricky. >> i went from famous to infamous overnight, in the snap of a finger. >> reporter: smith says the covid-19 pandemic hit him hard when it forced his group's reunion tour to shut down. >> it was devastating for everybody. a lot of mouths to feed. >> reporter: smith says he was looking for ways to keep making money during the lockdown when he says someone he knew and trusted told him he could help him get a loan. >> so he's calling me, "yeah, man, open up your phone, click right there, yeah, click it, all

right, that's it, man." i ain't read nothing or nothing. >> reporter: he said, fill out these forms and you filled out the forms? >> i didn't fill them out, they filled them ought. all i did was click a button and it got me in prison. >> reporter: how much was it? >> 420 or something. >> reporter: $426,000. >> you didn't have a thought, maybe this is too good to be true? >> no, in the music business we make money like that all the time. >> reporter: smith says he paid that man $200,000 commission for helping secure the loan. >> i didn't think nothing of it. i thought, let me give him his percentage so i have done good business. >> reporter: prosecutors say smith then falsely applied for a second loan in his mother's name and received an additional $700,000. then he said he spoke to his accountant. >> he said, "this was a ppp loan." "i say, "what's that?" >> reporter: government says he was part of a ring that applied

for $35 million in ppp loans. where did the money go? >> in the accounts. >> reporter: from your account, what did you spend it on? >> i did some charity stuff, gave out money to friends and family, like santa claus. >> reporter: the prosecutors in this case said that you had deliberate ignorance of truth, meaning that you just didn't want to know the facts? >> that's how they painted it. me telling you i didn't know, it's hard to believe. >> reporter: prosecutors said instead of employee payroll, smith spent money on purchases like a ferrari, shopping at versace, and over $27,000 at the seminole hard rock casino near miami. you don't apologize for the lifestyle because this is something that you've been leading for a long time now? >> that's in my business. a luxury car is what is in the business. clothing is in the business. hair, makeup, stylists, travel expenses, those are business expenses for the music business. >> reporter: smith pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire

fraud and served a year in federal prison. his mother was never charged. blue maintains the doj targeted him partly because of his profession. >> i'm a public figure headline. for a headline they prosecuted me. >> with link analysis on that case alone, 30 people were convicted. 30 different people in that same ring. so what company we do we say ab the other 29 in that ring? there was no singling out of anything. some are >> reporter: smith, who performs under "big money blue," wrote a song and produced a video about his time in federal prison. ♪ today he's adjusting to life as a convicted felon, trying to pay back the $1 million he owes to the government and volunteering with others transitioning from prison to public life. he says the money and what he did with it was worth the time he served.

>> it wasn't about me, it was the people i helped. i thought about all the people i helped in the process. it's like, sometimes somebody has to sacrifice for other people to survive. >> reporter: what do you say to someone like that? >> i would say that these programs were designed to help hurting small businesses. and that anyone who would use them to enrich themselves fraudulently should be held accountable. >> reporter: who pays for the fraud? >> the american taxpayer pays. >> reporter: brit booils says the government anticipated the fraud. >> the c.a.r.e.s. act built in protections more on the back end for policing fraud and the like. it gave additional money to the inspectors general. >> reporter: she says the program did what it set out to do. >> at the time, we were under intense pressure during a global pandemic to save workers and businesses. and that was the priority. so in that context, the program

was a success and fraudsters are actively being prosecuted, as far as i understand. >> reporter: president biden announcing a special prosecutor for pandemic fraud. >> under my administration, the watchdogs are back. and we're going to go after the criminals who stole billions of relief money meant for small businesses and millions of americans. >> reporter: and back in oregon, brian questenberry is also forging ahead. >> what am i, who am i? hard to say. someone with some time and a side interest of trying to right a wrong. >> reporter: questenberry says he's filed about 70 cases under the false claims act so far. ten have settled for a substantial amount. >> i'm in it for the long game. patient. we'll see how it goes. >> juju: our thanks to erielle. when we return, mysterious monoliths appearing in random locations. works of art or planted by extra-terrestrials?

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♪ >> juju: welcome back. you know in 2020, a shiny silver monolith appeared in a canyon in utah, seemingly out of nowhere. the mystery deepened when it disappeared just a few days later. similar structures have continued to pop up in far-flung places. two in the last month alone. we take another look at the firestorm of guesses, opinions, and wild conspiracy theories behind these mysterious metallic monol monoliths. >> i was hearing that there was an alien monolith on the hill. and where did it come from?

and a whole bunch of questions. >> reporter: another metallic mystery. this monolith popping up on a hill in bellevue, colorado, and in nevada. >> get mixed answers if it's there or not, so we're going to find out for ourselves. >> juju: this shiny spike arriving on a hiking trail north of las vegas. just a few months ago -- >> i've never seen this before. almost looks like a ufo put something down. >> juju: welsh local craig muir spotting this ten-foot metal monolith in the middle of nowhere during a walk. they're just the latest structures to appear in unusual locations across the globe, sparking fascination and questions about how they got there. >> visitors are flocking to a new mystery monolith on the welsh countryside. >> juju: some of the theories in perhaps they're left by aliens, similar to the movie "arrival." or earthbound pranksters looking to capitalize on the moment. >> i would say that a good portion of the, you know,

importance of the attention we're giving these particular monoliths has to do with their secrecy, mystery, who's behind it. but also their diverse locations. in a way, they're not just appearing in one part of the world. >> juju: the monoliths usually appearing out of the blue. this in a remote u.s. canyon. >> the intrepid explorers go down to investigate the alien life form. >> reporter: spotted by wildlife officials counting big horn sheep from a helicopter. >> what the heck is that? >> juju: in romania, this monolith popped up overlooking a lake. and another arriving in california's joshua tree national park. >> be prepared to see these everywhere. oh, dear. >> juju: three months later, a farmer in southeastern turkey discovering this metal block with old turkish script that read, "look at the sky, see the moon." the strange occurrences reminiscent of the 1968 movie

"2001: a space odyssey." >> there is a very iconic moment in stanley kubrick's "2001" film where these apes come together, and they encounter this big, blackmon lith. and they are touching it, and it kind of creates havoc among them because they don't know how to respond to this object. it seems like a lot of our fascination with these monoliths has to do with the mystery around them, right? like, we don't know who makes them. is it an alien civilization? >> looks like it's going to be pretty cool. >> juju: one tongue in cheek of the aliens theory, mattie mo, who goes by the name, "the most famous artist." >> i'm known for creating headlines, because the more headlines i generate that link back to my site, the stronger my bond with google is that i am the most famous artist. >> juju: there's speculation

that his team may have been behind the mystery in wales. now he's setting the record straight, sort of. >> i'm happy to be the spokesperson for the monolith, and i'm going to tell you right now, i didn't not make it. i don't even know how to paint. like, how could i have made it? >> juju: no one's officially claimed responsibility for any of the monoliths but that's not stopping speculation. >> aliens, they're the most unlikely explanation and usually the most unlikely explanation is the right one. >> juju: aliens or not, historic sites like easter island's massive moai statues in the south pacific, or the gar band wan rocks of stonehenge in southern england, even the great pyramids of egypt, all wonders of the ancient world that make you wonder, how did they do that? >> i know that all of a sudden, it's monolith mania all over again. i think it's awesome.

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>> juju: finally tonight, on this eve of independence day, an honor long overdue. president biden posthumously awarding the families of two civil war heroes the medal of honor 162 years later. private phillip g. shadrach and private george d. wilson were part of one of the most daring raids of the civil war. they were captured, tried, and hung by the confederacy. while many of their fellow troops had earned medals of honor, they were overlooked -- until today. private shadrach's great great nephew -- >> we've worked hard to prove he was one of them and should be recognized. >> juju: private wilson's great great granddaughter -- >> so honored to receive that medal that is somewhat tangible that he never got to touch it and receive it, but