SPRINGFIELD — The state agency that distributes unemployment benefits paid out more than $5 billion in fraudulent or excessive claims over two years when the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to cut back their operations or shut down, leaving many Illinoisans out of work, according to a report from the Illinois auditor general.

       Among the missteps by the Illinois Department of Employment Security were millions of dollars sent to people who were either in prison or dead, according to the report, which is the auditor general’s fullest accounting yet of massive fraud and overpayments that occurred as the state was flooded with jobless claims.

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       “IDES was not prepared to respond to the needs created by the pandemic,” the report from Auditor General Frank Mautino’s office stated. “IDES did not have a plan for responding to recessions and potential surges in claims.”