Tag: fraud

‘New Sheriff in Town’: USDA Secretary Rollins To Reform SNAP Program

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that her agency has found massive fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It must be reformed, she added. 

When President Donald Trump’s administration asked states for food stamp data to eradicate fraud, waste, and abuse, many states sued, Townhall reported. 

Trump’s Executive Order 14243, “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos,” aims to eradicate fraud, waste, and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which feeds about 41 million people. 

A May 6 USDA directive requires states to provide the names and Social Security Numbers of food stamp beneficiaries. 

Also in May, the federal government shuttered a $66 million SNAP scheme in New York, in which a federal employee helped loot public benefits meant for hungry, vulnerable people. 

Rollins said that the program gives food benefits to illegal aliens, and others abuse the system meant to feed hungry, low-income families. 

“The Democrat Party has turned its back on working Americans and built its entire strategy around protecting illegal aliens. They know if the handouts stop, those illegals will go back home, and Democrats will lose 20+ seats after the next census,” Rollins said. “There’s a new sheriff in town. @POTUS will not tolerate waste, fraud, or abuse while hardworking Americans go hungry.”

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‘Massive Fraud’ Uncovered in Food Stamp Program, Says Agriculture Secretary as Benefits Lapse

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Sunday said that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, is “a broken and corrupt program,” after benefits lapsed over the weekend due to the government shutdown.

In an interview with Fox News, Rollins said that while the Trump administration is moving to get the program restarted, 21 states refused to hand over data to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on whether illegal immigrants were receiving these benefits. Thousands of cases of illegal benefit use were also found, dozens were arrested for SNAP fraud, and thousands of dead people were still receiving benefits, she said.

“And guess what? In just the states that cooperated, we’ve already uncovered massive fraud,” she wrote in a post on X on Sunday.

After the second Trump administration took over, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched an investigation into SNAP fraud and abuse, said Rollins. She said her department asked all 50 states to send in data to the government for a review but 21 states did not.

Rollins suggested that if certain SNAP benefits are cut off, illegal immigrants will self-deport and added that it would change the outcome of the Census, causing House districts to be redrawn.

The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold payments to the food program starting Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make the payments. It was unclear when the debit cards that beneficiaries use would be reloaded after the ruling.

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Judge Delivers Blow to Letitia James in Mortgage Fraud Case

A federal judge on Friday denied Letitia James’ request to force federal prosecutors to turn over all of their communications with the media after it was reported that Lindsey Halligan was exchanging text messages with a Lawfare reporter.

A couple of weeks ago, US Attorney Lindsey Halligan exchanged Signal messages with Lawfare reporter Anna Bower.

It is not unusual for a prosecutor to communicate with the press.

Lindsey Halligan pushed back on Anna Bower’s reporting in her exchange.

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” the first message to Anna Bower read. “You are reporting things that are simply not true. Thought you should have a heads up.”

Click here to see the screenshots of Halligan’s Signal exchange with Anna Bower.

Letitia James asked Judge Walker to force the DOJ to keep a log of all communications with the press.

The judge delivered a blow to Letitia James.

Judge Jamar Walker, a Biden appointee, said Letitia James did not demonstrate that it is necessary for the court to force the DOJ to track communications with the media.

The New York Post reported:

The judge overseeing Letitia James’ mortgage fraud case on Friday denied a motion from the New York attorney general attempting to force federal prosecutors to keep a log of all their communications with the media.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell filed the motion last week, when James was arraigned on bank fraud and false statements charges, in response to a report that US Attorney Lindsey Halligan sent a flurry of encrypted Signal messages about the case to a reporter.

“[T]he defendant does not demonstrate that it is necessary for the Court to order the government to track communications with the media in any particular form,” US District Judge Jamar Walker wrote in his six-page order.

“The defendant’s request that the government be required to keep a communication log is DENIED,” the Biden-appointed judge ruled.

Walker noted that Halligan’s Signal chat with Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower earlier this month was “unusual” but he declined to offer an opinion “on whether they were improper in any sense, either legal or ethical.”

James was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia last month.

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Lawsuit Targeting Decades-Old Journal Article Triggers Renewed Scrutiny of Fraudulent Scientific Studies

A lawsuit demanding the retraction of a decades-old peer-reviewed article that claimed the antidepressant paroxetine, sold as Paxil, is safe and effective has put the issue of fraud in scientific and medical journals back in the spotlight, Paul D. Thacker wrote today in The Disinformation Chronicle.

The lawsuit, filed last month against the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and its publisher, Elsevier, demands the retraction of a 2001 article in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

The article was based on Study 329, which the suit claims distorted data to claim Paxil was effective.

The complaint alleges that JAACAP editors and Elsevier refused to retract the article “in an apparent attempt to shield at least five of the … authors who are prominent members of the AACAP from possible ramifications of retraction.”

Study 329 was ghostwritten by Paxil manufacturer GSK — which Thacker discussed in a 2011 report he republished today.

Several of the journal article’s co-authors worked for GSK or went on to hold key positions within the AACAP.

According to Thacker, one of the co-authors, Stan Kutcher, is now a member of the Canadian Senate and co-founded “Science Up First,” an initiative that purportedly targets scientific “misinformation.”

During a roundtable discussion on the weaponization of science that the MAHA Institute organized last week, Thacker cited Study 329 as an example of fraud in scientific and medical publishing.

Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense, spoke at the roundtable. He said the discussion, in which “panelists described horror stories of their own scientific research under attack through targeted retractions of papers, denial of research funding, and disciplinary actions,” was “stunning.” He added:

“There is a huge cost in falling out of line with established institutions in science and medicine, whether corporate, university or private organizations. And these highly credentialed panelists paid a huge cost for ‘doing the right thing’ in exposing malfeasance and bad science.”

Research scientist and author James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., also participated in the roundtable. He said it “explored how science-like activities have been systematically re-engineered to serve political and corporate interests rather than truth.” He said:

“Study 329 exemplifies the collapse of accountability that follows when industry, regulators and journals form a closed feedback loop of self-validation. What’s marketed as ‘misinformation control’ today is often a continuation of that same pattern — protecting narratives, not people.”

‘One of the best documented case studies of corruption in modern biomedicine’

Study 329, completed in 1998 and funded by GSK, revealed serious safety risks — including suicidal behavior — associated with Paxil. Later studies confirmed those risks.

However, the study showed a few minor positive results that suggested possible efficacy, as it met 15% of the outcomes the researchers had initially said would prove Paxil’s effectiveness.

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U.S. Secret Service Seized 17 Skimmers, Stopped $17M of EBT Fraud in Texas

The U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement seized 17 illegal electronic benefit transfer skimmers that stopped nearly $18 million of fraud in San Antonio, Oct. 28-29.

Law enforcement from the San Antonio Police Department and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office conducted EBT fraud and payment card skimming outreach. 

Law enforcement visited 712 businesses and removed 17 illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of more than $17.7 million. More than 4,300 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. 

Teams also distributed educational materials about Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and skimming to help businesses identify illegal skimming devices in their point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs.

“The U.S. Secret Service greatly appreciates our law enforcement partners as, together, we aim to proactively identify and remove illegal skimming devices in San Antonio,” said Brian Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s San Antonio Field Office. “Removing these devices before card numbers can fall into the hands of criminals underscores our commitment to preventing EBT fraud which impacts our most vulnerable community members.”

This effort follows a series of more than 20 similar operations conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and law enforcement partners nationwide.

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Justice Department Launches Investigation Into Whether Black Lives Matter Leaders Defrauded Donors

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether Black Lives Matter leaders defrauded donors of tens of millions of dollars.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) raised over $90 million in 2020 during and after the George Floyd riots. They also raised more than $75 million in 2021.

The donations to BLMGNF have significantly dwindled in recent years because the majority of the public no longer supports Black Lives Matter.

The Associated Press reported that DOJ prosecutors have already issued subpoenas and “at least one search warrant.”

No other details about the investigation were released.

Fox News also reported that prosecutors are investigating BLM leaders.

AP reported:

The Justice Department is investigating whether leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement defrauded donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars during racial justice protests in 2020, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, federal law enforcement officials have issued subpoenas and at least one search warrant as part of an investigation into the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. and other Black-led organizations that helped spark a national reckoning on systemic racism, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss an ongoing criminal probe by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

It was not clear if the investigation would result in criminal charges, but its mere existence invites fresh scrutiny to a movement that in recent years has faced criticism about its public accounting of donations they have received. The recent burst of investigative activity is also unfolding at a time when civil rights groups have raised concerns about the potential for the Trump administration to target a broad variety of progressive and left-leaning groups that have been critical of him, including those affiliated with BLM, the transgender rights movement and anti-ICE protesters.

Last year the former head of Black Lives Matter Atlanta was sentenced to prison for stealing donations to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Tyree Conyers-Page was sentenced to 42 months in prison after he was found guilty on one count of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering

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‘Ghost students’ continue to steal millions in financial aid from California community colleges, report says

“Ghost students” continue to steal millions in financial aid from the California Community College System despite efforts to stop them, a new report finds.

While Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said there is $1 billion in fraudulent financial aid paid out to the scammers, who might use bots to enroll and participate in class, the number is likely much larger according to a professor interviewed by Open the Books and The College Fix.

Kim Rich, a criminal justice professor at Pierce College, said she determined half of the students in her classes are fake.

Rich told The Fix that she has tried “to stop this fraud in its tracks for the past four years,” but she doesn’t “feel like [she’s] anywhere closer.” She previously spoke to The Fix in 2022 after determining about 36 percent of the students of newly-issued student ids were fake just from one week period at her college. She regularly comments on the problem of fake students.

In the spring 2025 semester, according to the Open the Books report, 24 students in Rich’s 40-student class were fake. Rich estimated that if just one ‘ghost student’ were enrolled in each of the 4,000 online classes offered in Los Angeles community colleges per semester, the nine schools in the county would lose a combined $20 million per semester.

Referencing the expected ID verification mandate the chancellor’s office planned to implement on Oct. 30 Rich told The Fix that she is “not very confident it will solve the problem or even reduce the instances of financial aid fraud, mainly because none of the other efforts or millions of dollars they have spent to remedy this issue have.”

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6 Reasons Congress Should Let The Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies Expire

After a series of scary headlines, prompted in no small part by fearmongering on the left, Obamacare’s open enrollment period is finally upon us. For those individuals about to explore their options on the Exchange, or those who just want to learn more about the issues behind the government shutdown, here are some fast facts about open enrollment and the enhanced Exchange subsidies currently scheduled to expire on Dec. 31.

1. Nearly half of all Exchange enrollees currently qualify for “free” premiums.

Under the original, circa 2010 version of Obamacare, all households had to pay at least 2 percent of their income toward a “benchmark” silver-level insurance plan. In theory, some households could qualify for a “skinnier” bronze-level insurance plan with no out-of-pocket premium (and a higher deductible as a result), but most households paid something for their coverage.

However, the Covid-era enhanced subsidies passed by the Biden administration allowed households with incomes below 150 percent of poverty to qualify for zero-dollar (i.e., “free”) premiums. Perhaps unsurprisingly, households reporting income below this threshold have risen to nearly half (45 percent) of all Exchange enrollees. While the left views this policy outcome as a feature, most taxpayers would likely consider it a bug, for the obvious reason below.

2. CBO and others have found millions of fraudulent enrollees, costing tens of billions of dollars annually.

The Congressional Budget Office found 2.3 million enrollees “improperly claimed [subsidies] via intentional overstatement of income” in 2025, falsely claiming income just above the poverty level to qualify for subsidies. Applying the average Exchange subsidy to this population results in estimated fraudulent spending of $13.9 billion per year.

A separate study from the Paragon Health Institute took a broader look at fraud, examining areas where enrollees have incentives to understate and overstate their income to qualify for the richest subsidies. (Disclosure: While I have done work for Paragon, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.) This broader examination of Exchange program integrity found 6.4 million potentially fraudulent enrollees in 2025, for which the federal government is paying $27.1 billion this year alone.

3. If the enhanced subsidies expire, the federal government will still pay 75-80 percent of enrollees’ premiums on average. 

No, that’s not a typo. A graphic from the leftist think tank KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) admits as much. 

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Tim Walz Donor and Former Minneapolis Chamber CEO INDICTED on Five Counts of Bank and Wire Fraud — Accused of Embezzling $200K and Stealing $30K Reward Money for Unsolved Child Murder Cases

Former Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jonathan Weinhagen, a frequent donor to Democrat Governor Tim Walz, has been indicted on five federal counts of bank and wire fraud for allegedly embezzling more than $200,000 from the chamber and stealing $30,000 meant to help solve child murder cases.

According to federal prosecutors, Weinhagen carried out a six-year scheme between December 2019 and June 2024, using fake companies, fraudulent contracts, and even a phony obituary to cover his tracks.

According to FOX 9, Weinhagen ran an elaborate fraud operation from December 2019 through June 2024, when he abruptly left his position at the Chamber. Prosecutors allege that Weinhagen created a fake consulting company called Synergy Partners and used an alias, James Sullivan, to funnel money to himself.

He also allegedly:

  • Opened a $125,000 line of credit in the chamber’s name and funneled the money into his fake company.
  • Faked the death of his alias, publishing an obituary for “James Sullivan” when the chamber began asking questions.
  • Diverted $30,000 in reward money that had been donated to Crime Stoppers of Minnesota to help solve the shooting deaths of three children in 2021 — crimes that remain unsolved.
  • Tried to fraudulently obtain a $54,661 loan from SoFi Bank by claiming he worked for a restaurant group and earned $425,000 annually — both lies.

Federal prosecutors say the total embezzled amount exceeds $200,000.

Weinhagen also stole a total of $30,000 in reward money that had been earmarked to help find suspects.

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OUTRAGEOUS: Trump CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz Uncovers Over $1 BILLION in Fraudulent Healthcare Spending for ILLEGAL ALIENS Including Murderers and Rapists

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump-appointed Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), just dropped a bombshell on national television, exposing over one BILLION dollars in fraudulent healthcare spending for illegal immigrants.

Appearing on Mornings with Maria on Friday, Oz revealed that his agency uncovered billions of taxpayer dollars funneled to illegal aliens in Democrat-run states, a direct violation of federal law.

“Maria, just in the last few months, in the few states that we’ve examined—less than half a dozen—we’ve identified more than a billion dollars, with a B, of federal tax dollars that have gone to illegal immigrants. We’re actually calling that money back from those states now.

But the fact that this could still happen is very frustrating to all of us. Why would you want to repeal that after all the work that was put into ensuring that these programs, which work so well for vulnerable populations, would remain intact financially?”

During a “Fox & Friends” interview with Ainsley Earhardt last week, Dr. Oz blasted Democrat-led states for abusing taxpayer funds while gaslighting Americans about the extent of fraud within the Medicaid system.

According to Oz, CMS investigators discovered that Democrat-run states like California, Illinois, New York, and Minnesota have been using federal Medicaid dollars to provide full dental, vision, and comprehensive healthcare to illegal immigrants, services that even Medicare recipients don’t receive.

Oz said the Trump administration’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” was designed to block this very abuse and claw back stolen funds. But now, Democrats in Congress are trying to repeal the bill, which would reopen the floodgates for illegal spending.

The $1 billion figure may just be the beginning. Oz said his agency has only reviewed a fraction of states so far, and the full amount of misused funds could be “significantly higher.”

He revealed that some states have already started returning funds, acknowledging their wrongdoing as CMS tightens audits.

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