Tag: welfare

New York made $7.6 million in improper Medicaid payments to incarcerated people, audit reveals

A federal audit found that New York made about $7.6 million in Medicaid managed care payments on behalf of people who were incarcerated in state prisons.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General uncovered the payments and revealed that the money went to 1,375 Medicaid enrollees who were incarcerated between January 2021 and December 2024.

The new report specified that the money was paid to managed care organizations, not directly to incarcerated people. The federal share was $6.1 million.

The Inspector General is recommending New York return that money to the federal government.

The audit found that New York did not always remove people from Medicaid managed care after they entered prison.

“We determined that the State agency did not always disenroll individuals from Medicaid managed care after receiving notification that an enrollee was incarcerated,” read the report.

In one example, an individual remained enrolled in managed care for 23 months while incarcerated and monthly payments were made on the person’s behalf.

Auditors said New York has systems designed to identify Medicaid recipients who entered prison, but those systems did not consistently match incarceration and Medicaid records.

The state told investigators that system limitations and overrides during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to some of the payments.

Auditors also revealed that discrepancies in personal information, such as names and dates of birth, could prevent the state from matching records and making an incarcerated person ineligible for payments in the system. 

The Inspector General noted that its review focused on managed care payments and did not determine whether the individuals received inpatient medical treatment.

New York officials told auditors that the state’s Office of Medicaid Inspector General was reviewing the payments and would eventually recover any outstanding overpayments. 

The audit concluded that New York needed to improve its process for identifying incarcerated Medicaid recipients and halting managed care payments that should no longer continue.

The state told investigators that it planned to improve its process for cross-referencing New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and Medicaid records.

“The State agency clarified that it would continue its systematic data-matching process to match DOCCS records with Medicaid enrollment data, but it is exploring development of an enhanced report to identify mismatches using lower-probability matching criteria and identifying individuals with minor demographic discrepancies through manual review,” read the report.

Keep reading

A $120 Can of Spam Busts Open Seattle’s Food Stamp Fraud

Look in the mirror: You’re looking at an attractive, smart, hardworking taxpayer. 

And here’s where hundreds of millions of your food stamp tax dollars are going: straight into the hands of addicts, the pockets of pimps, and the funds of charlatans. 

It wasn’t bad enough that California hospice owners were driving Ferraris bought with stolen tax money, and that FireAID donations were given to nonprofits that had nothing to do with actual, you know, fire aid. Now we discover that food stamp fraud is taking place in the open on the streets of America, and nobody’s doing anything about it, apparently.

Independent reporter Nick Shirley, with a group of other indy reporters, revealed the open-air federal food stamp fraud taking place on the streets of Seattle. 

Shirley, San Francisco-based street reporter Darren Stallcup, Seattle’s Jonathan Choe, and other intrepid indy reporters followed the money. 

Choe tells Shirley that EBT cards litter homeless encampments, where they receive so many of them that they begin to throw them away. Many of those “homeless” drug zombies use their food stamp cards to buy drugs. 

Choe and Shirley found EBT cards and sought to follow the lucrative scam from beginning to end. Shirley lays out how simple this is in a new video displaying how one abandoned EBT card can buy drugs, sex, and a $120 can of Spam.

Keep reading

Florida Man Convicted of Billing Medicare $15 Million for Blood Tests Patients Never Wanted

A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida has convicted a Florida man who was the vice president of a testing laboratory and owned and operated a separate marketing company for his role in a fraud scheme that took advantage of patients who wanted COVID-19 tests during the pandemic and were instead given additional blood tests they did not want or need, for which Medicare was billed over $15 million.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Joseph Rodriguez, 58, of Coral Springs, perpetrated a scheme that exploited elderly patients at residential country clubs in the West Palm Beach area who were desperate for COVID-19 nasal swab and blood antibody tests. 

“The defendant took advantage of patients desperate for COVID-19 tests at the height of the pandemic to bill Medicare for unnecessary blood tests,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Such egregious conduct in the face of a global pandemic cannot stand and will be prosecuted. The Fraud Division remains committed to holding the perpetrators of such schemes accountable.”

When those patients signed up to receive just swab and antibody tests at drive-through testing events at their residence clubs organized by Rodriguez through his marketing company, Phoenix Health, they were, in addition to the COVID-19 tests they wanted, subjected to tens or even hundreds of unnecessary blood tests that they did not want or need, and that no doctor ordered as required. These tests, which ranged from hormone tests to heavy metal tests for arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, were then billed to Medicare as if they were medically necessary and ordered by a treating physician.

“This case highlights a troubling scheme that took advantage of vulnerable patients who sought COVID‑19 testing during a national public health crisis, only to be subjected to additional and unnecessary blood tests intended to increase profits,” said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Miranda L. Bennett of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “By placing personal gain above the well‑being of elderly individuals, the defendant violated their trust and threatened the integrity of our health care system. HHS‑OIG remains steadfast in its mission to protect public health and ensure that individuals who abuse federal health care programs and the people they serve are held fully accountable.”

Keep reading

President Trump Calls for Mandatory Prison Sentences for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security Fraudsters – Says Crooked Politicians Who Cover It Up Must Face Real Consequences

President Donald Trump is calling on Congress to finally put real teeth behind the government’s war on fraud, mandatory prison sentences for criminals caught stealing from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

In a video released Saturday, Trump demanded legislation establishing mandatory minimum sentences for fraudsters who loot the federal programs millions of Americans depend on.

Under Trump’s proposal, probation would no longer be an option for covered fraud offenses.

“Today, I’m calling on Congress to pass legislation to address fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs,” Trump said.

“First, Congress must impose mandatory minimum sentences on fraudsters who steal from critical benefit programs designed to take care of the sick, feed the hungry, care for our children, and protect our senior citizens’ retirements.”

“Under our proposal, probation is no longer an option for the fraudsters. If you steal from the American people, you will go to prison and for a long period of time. And the more you steal, the longer you’ll stay in that prison,” he said. “If you’re a convicted fraudster who gets caught stealing from the American people a second time, your sentence will be doubled.”

Then he went after the politicians.

“Second, Congress must make sure that crooked and corrupt politicians who willfully turn a blind eye to fraud finally face real consequences,” Trump said.

“Under our proposal, if a state or local politician knows about fraud and has the ability to stop it, but does nothing about it, they can be personally liable for the full loss of the American taxpayers’ money that they should have stopped and they should have saved.”

The White House published the president’s announcement Saturday under the title “Minimum Sentences on Fraudsters.”

Keep reading

Report Exposes California’s $11B ‘Shadow Welfare System’ for Illegals

The State of California has spent more than $11 billion tax dollars to give illegal migrants free healthcare, free food, housing, legal assistance, education, smart phones, and even free car insurance, a report finds.

It’s all more evidence of the Democrat Ponzi scheme of subsidizing illegals to give the party more power and more money to spread around to maintain that power.

The state’s generous welfare system is, of course, intended to give California citizens a helping hand when they come on hard times, but the state’s far-left Democrat establishment has warped the programs to support criminal illegals, according to City Journal’s Christopher Rufo.

Rufo calls the abuse a “a shadow welfare system” that hands tax dollars over to noncitizens. And during his reseearch into his article he visited four state offices in Southern California each of them said that illegal aliens are permitted to sign up for California’s public assistance programs. Rufo adds that the state has spent more than $11 billion for illegals.

Keep reading

Minnesota Dem Candidate Peggy Flanagan  Claims She’s ‘Appalled’ by Massive Welfare Theft — But ‘25-Year Friend’ Standing Next To Her In Viral Hijab Video Now Under Medicaid Fraud Investigation

Minnesota’s Democrat Senate nominee keeps telling voters she is “appalled” by the state’s historic welfare theft. The problem is the woman standing next to her in that viral hijab video, the one Flanagan called a friend of nearly 25 years, is now running an autism center the state has kicked off Medicaid and placed under investigation.

Nimco Ahmed, CEO of Minneapolis-based Milestone Development Center, appeared beside then-Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan at Karmel Mall in December 2025.

Flanagan, a Catholic, wrapped herself in a hijab for Somali TV and declared the Somali community “part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota.” Then she gestured to Ahmed and talked about their friendship of “almost 25 years.”

That same Ahmed is a longtime DFL activist, a former DFL state director, and president of the Somali American Coalition.

She is also listed as CEO of Milestone. Minnesota Department of Human Services officials have now confirmed open investigations into Milestone and a second provider, Spectrum Therapy Center.

Both were terminated from the Medicaid program months ago during the state’s Revalidate 2026 review. Both providers have appealed the decision, Fox News reported.

Keep reading

Denver Socialist Mayoral Candidate Says Prior Arrest for Theft of Food Stamp Benefits ‘Actually Qualifies’ Her to Hold Office 

Shontel Lewis, a Democratic Socialist running in the Denver mayoral election, has a unique spin on her prior arrest for the theft of food stamps. She says it makes her more qualified to hold office.

In 2008, while she worked at the Department of Human Services East Food Stamp Office, Lewis used that job to take public benefit money that belonged to other people.

According to the police affidavit reported by the Denver Post, she searched EBT systems for inactive accounts that still had money and reissued benefit cards from those accounts.

She then gave cards to a roommate to use for food and cash benefits.

Investigators tied her to at least five to seven cases accessed over about five months starting in March 2008.

Although she initially denied wrongdoing, she later admitted it and said she was struggling financially. Initially, she was charged with more serious counts, but pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft. A felony theft count was deferred and later dismissed in 2011.

She served 18 months of probation and was ordered to pay more than $6,000 in restitution.

Keep reading

Maduro Ally Pleads Guilty In Miami To Scheme That Stole Venezuelan Welfare Funds

The former minister of industry for Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s regime pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a global money laundering conspiracy that skimmed millions from a Venezuelan public welfare program.

According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release, Alex Saab, 54, who was extradited from Venezuela in May and charged days later, conducted a decade-long scheme that defrauded a Venezuelan welfare program for food and medicine, netting hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and associates.

Saab, a Colombian businessman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments before federal district Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years.

“Criminals like Alex Saab who stole from the people of Venezuela and worked to exploit and misuse American financial institutions to fund illicit activities will be held accountable,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the news release.

Saab is accused of bilking the welfare program known as Local Committee for Supply and Production, or CLAP (Comité Local de Abastecimiento y Producción).

The ex-minister admitted to using a system of bribes and illegal payments to public officials. Entities controlled by conspirators in the scheme would be rewarded with lucrative contracts from the Venezuelan government to import food and medicine under CLAP.

Saab and his conspirators did not fulfill the contracts and would instead use fake companies, false invoices and shipping records, and other fraudulent documents to unlawfully obtain millions while concealing their association with the scheme, the DOJ said.

Saab further admitted he used shell companies outside his country to launder the illegal proceeds around the world, including in the United States.

DOJ Assistant Attorney General Andrew Duva said Saab exploited the American financial system to profit off Venezuelans, creating a “complex web of front companies, shell accounts, and false records to perpetuate his scheme.”

Saab previously was in U.S. custody until former President Joe Biden released him in December 2023 as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela. The deal included the Venezuelan regime’s release of 30 prisoners, including 10 Americans.

“The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela celebrates with joy the liberation and return to his homeland of our diplomat Alex Saab, who until today was unjustly kidnapped in a U.S. jail,” the Venezuelan government said following the prisoner-swap deal.

Saab was removed from his position earlier this year by acting leader Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president until he was captured by U.S. forces in an overnight raid on Caracas in January.

Saab was initially charged in July 2019 on money laundering counts.

He was detained about a year later in the Republic of Cabo Verde at the request of the U.S. government and was eventually extradited to American custody.

“President Biden granted Alex Saab clemency while he was awaiting trial in [Miami], and Saab was released from federal custody and returned to Venezuela. But that was not the end of the story,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida.

Quiñones’s office secured a new indictment against Saab in January 2026, and by May he was back in Miami federal court.

Keep reading

USDA Says Crackdown On SNAP Fraud Prevented $5.8 Billion In Taxpayer Losses

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced nearly $6 billion in total savings tied to efforts to eliminate fraud in the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Rollins outlined the wins in a Sept. 15 post to X, saying that $5.8 billion in taxpayer losses have been prevented by the anti-fraud initiatives implemented during President Donald Trump’s second term.

This was done through the shutdown of nearly 1,840 illegal SNAP devices that processed Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and the disqualification of 5,335 fraudulent retailers.

“Those who defraud SNAP are stealing from taxpayers and taking resources away from Americans who genuinely need assistance,” Rollins said. “We have zero tolerance for this abuse, and we will continue pursuing bad actors and protecting the integrity of the program.”

There are several ways an ineligible person can be counted in SNAP, including illegal immigrants being certified in error or by fraud, and deceased household members continuing to receive benefits.

This comes just over three months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a report in early June about their discovery that 185,986 deceased people in 29 states were receiving food stamps.

Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 directing federal agencies to obtain lawful and “unfettered access” to data from federally-funded programs such as SNAP to facilitate an audit of government spending.

The SNAP integrity team was created in May 2025 to review state SNAP data against federal databases to identify potential fraud.

The maximum monthly food assistance offered through SNAP is set for its annual increase in line with the cost-of-living adjustment in October.

The benefit ceiling for a family of four will reach $1,023 for most of the nation, which is an increase from the current maximum of $994. Total benefits vary based on family size and income. In May 2026, the average monthly benefit received by U.S. households was $344.51.

The overall cost of the monthly SNAP benefits have fallen in recent years, from $13.4 billion in October 2022 to $6.8 billion in May 2026, largely because pandemic emergency allotments largely ended in 2023 and fewer people on the program.

Separate state cost-sharing penalties for high payment-error rates, enacted by the Republican-led Congress in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, are scheduled to begin in October 2027. More than 40 states and territories recorded SNAP payment-error rates above 6 percent in fiscal year 2025, the level that triggers the penalty.

Keep reading

Rand Paul: Blue State Democrats Using Welfare System to Bribe People for Their Vote

Tuesday on FNC’s “The Will Cain Show,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) discussed alleged welfare corruption across the country and argued that some states used it to incentivize voting for Democrats.

“How do we exist as a nation, Senator, if we essentially are open to the world and give welfare to everyone that wants to come to the United States?” host Will Cain asked.

Paul replied, “No, we can’t. And, actually, a whole population of these people came. Not only they’re receiving welfare, but became experts at stealing welfare, so many of the folks in Minnesota. Now we found in L.A. I think they had 432 hospice centers in L.A. When they cut off their money, the Trump administration cut the money off, only 12 of them complained. That means the rest of them were just worried about being caught. They’re fleeing somewhere not to be caught. But that means 80, 90 percent of these things are fraud. We found the ‘Learing Center,’ the adult learning centers, all the stuff that Nick Shirley found in Minneapolis. So a big problem of this is that the federal government funds it and the state governments police it. So if you’re policing something you don’t pay for, do you really care if it’s wasted?”

“So it’s mostly blue states — New York, Minnesota, California, where the Democrats bribe people to get their vote. They say, here, you can all have welfare, and we’re not going to check to see whether you need it or not or whether you’re stealing it, because Uncle Sam, the federal taxpayer, is going to pay for it. It’s a terrible system, and I propose that we shift this all back to the states, so the payment and the policing would be at the state and they would bankrupt themselves if they didn’t police the system.”

Keep reading