The Vice President JD Vance-led Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, with its whole-of-government approach, continues its efforts to combat fraud, with numerous agencies announcing major developments in recent weeks.
The anti-fraud task force hit the ground running in its first five weeks after President Donald Trump established it on March 16. And most recently, various agencies, including the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Department of Education (ED), the Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), have furthered the task force’s mission to tackle fraud.
“The Vice President has brought the entire Trump administration together to root out fraud and return hard-earned tax dollars to the American people – where it belongs,” a Vance spokesperson told Breitbart News. “The task force continues to gain momentum every single day, and it’s working tirelessly to deliver results on the President’s War on Fraud.”
On April 24, the SBA flagged tens of billions in suspected pandemic-era fraud to the Treasury Department, as Fox Digital first reported.
“After extensive review, and with the strong support of the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force, we are taking our most decisive action yet to end a Biden-era scheme that protected over 560,000 borrowers tied to more than $22 billion in suspected pandemic-era fraud,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler told the outlet.
The borrowers received the loans through the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and the referral was “the largest debt referral in agency history,” Loeffler said in a post on X.
“This is a huge win by [Loeffler] and the SBA to recoup potentially fraudulent dollars that went largely ignored under the Biden Admin. Cutting through the bureaucracy is part of the great work our task force continues to produce,” Vance wrote in a post on X.
On April 27, the Department of Education and the task force took action to safeguard the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) against fraud by implementing a fraud detection tool. Fox Digital First reported on the move.
In a post on X, Education Secretary Linda McMahon emphasized that ED disbursed more than 100 billion dollars in student aid per year.
“But how much of it was fraud?” she wrote. “Starting today in partnership with the [vice president’s] Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, fraud detection is built directly into FAFSA—screening every applicant in real time.”
The next day, the Departments of Justice and Agriculture took separate, unrelated actions to further the federal government’s crackdown on fraud. The DOJ, in tandem with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), served warrants for 22 businesses in Minnesota, including the “Quality Learing Center,” that are under investigation for suspected fraud, as Fox Digital noted.
“The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding,” Vance wrote in a post on X.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the same day that more than 10,000 individuals in a single state receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are driving luxury cars, including Bentleys, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis.
“These individuals are taking advantage of the American taxpayer. And together with [Vance’s] Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this ends NOW,” she wrote in a post on X.
“4.3M Americans have been moved off of SNAP — but more work to be done!” she added.
Vance emphasized that SNAP benefits should go to “Americans who need help buying food, not by fraudsters with enough cash to buy Bentleys and Ferraris.”
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed on April 30 that the agency is deferring another $91 million in federal Medicaid funding for Minnesota.
Oz said:
Here’s the issue: Minnesota state-run programs have raised serious red flags, from the so called ‘Learing Center’ scandal to a recent Department of Justice raid tied to childcare building concerns — and don’t forget how fraud tourists from other states took advantage of Minnesota’s weak enforcement to allegedly use AI to fabricate records and steal another three and a half million dollars.
Vance noted that the latest deferment comes after a quarter of a billion dollars in Medicaid deferments to Minnesota.
“Proud of the work our task force and CMS continue to do,” he wrote in a post on X.
On April 30, the DOJ announced the launch of the West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which will lead the charge against fraud schemes in Northern California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Fraud Division, said:
Driven by data showing a significant and accelerating increase in health care fraud across all three districts, the Strike Force builds on a foundation of recent landmark prosecutions — including the successful prosecution of digital health technology executives in the Northern District of California and the dismantling of Medicaid, sober home, and wound care fraud schemes in the District of Arizona.
Moreover, earlier this week, Vance announced that the Task Force will probe allegations of $66 million in Ohio Medicaid Fraud brought to light by a Daily Wire investigation.
“These shocking allegations, if true, show why the Fraud Task Force’s work is so important,” Vance wrote in a post on X. “I’m directing the task force to look into it and take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and stop all further payments as appropriate.”
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