{"id":1093,"date":"2026-07-14T09:08:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2026-07-14T09:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:08:45","slug":"old-infrastructure-underpins-trump-administrations-new-war-on-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1093","title":{"rendered":"Old Infrastructure Underpins Trump Administration\u2019s New War on Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration has made cracking down on fraud \u2014 particularly waste and improper payments in federal benefits programs \u2014 a key domestic policy initiative.<\/p>\n

Read more With Lindsey Graham Gone, Republicans Worry They Lost Their Trump Whisperer<\/a><\/p>\n

Administration officials have swiftly and aggressively leveraged the pathways already available to them: On suspicion of fraud, payments to hundreds of hospice and home health care providers in Los Angeles have been suspended<\/u><\/span> and the federal government has attempted to freeze millions of dollars in funding to California<\/u><\/span> and Minnesota<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

But the administration also said it would change the way the federal government identifies and targets fraud, vowing to work more closely with states to identify misconduct in the programs that states administer, making changes to how the Justice Department investigates and prosecutes benefit fraud, and improving communication between federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI often find in the fraud task force that there sometimes are barriers that we need to break down, agencies that need to coordinate,\u201d said Vice President JD Vance, who leads the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and often describes it as a \u201cwhole of government\u201d effort.<\/p>\n

While the administration quickly claimed early wins attributed to the task force, the more permanent systems with potential to have an impact after Trump leaves office are still taking shape.<\/p>\n

Significant changes were announced at the DOJ, where the administration created an entirely new division \u2014 the department\u2019s first in 20 years \u2014 to target fraud.<\/p>\n

The National Fraud Enforcement Division, formally established in April, was granted operational control of preexisting DOJ units, most notably the Health Care Fraud Unit. The unit had been part of the DOJ\u2019s Criminal Division in the Fraud Section, which litigates cases of financial fraud against the federal government.<\/p>\n

In a memo announcing the division\u2019s creation, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche promised an unprecedented<\/u><\/span> \u201ccomprehensive and coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unclear what shape that coordinated approach will take, former DOJ employees said that units within the Fraud Section were successful and productive<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Health Care Fraud Unit each year in the last five years has brought bigger numbers each year than the previous year,\u201d said Glenn Leon, a partner at Jenner & Block who until January led the Fraud Section in the DOJ\u2019s criminal division.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yes \u2014 the fact that this new division is taking those resources, it\u2019s kind of a transfer of those accomplishments from one part of the DOJ to another part of the DOJ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Because the division is so new, Leon added, many of the accomplishments the department is praising were being investigated \u201cprior to this new division being created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final recommendations will be made to Blanche after Aug. 5, a deadline set in the memo, about how the division should be structured.<\/p>\n

The memo outlines plans for development goals, such as every U.S. attorney\u2019s office having a prosecutor detailed to the new division and a substantial increase in prosecutorial resources. In a statement to NOTUS, a DOJ spokesperson said the department is embedding dedicated fraud prosecutors in U.S. attorney\u2019s offices and equipping investigators and prosecutors with state-of-the-art data analytics tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building a first-of-its-kind division to deter fraud against the United States,\u201d the spokesperson said, adding that the initiatives outlined in Blanche\u2019s memo are \u201cwell ahead of schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Cuts Two Utah National Monuments by More Than 90%<\/a><\/p>\n

Scott Armstrong, another alum of the DOJ\u2019s Fraud Section and a white-collar criminal defense attorney at Armstrong & Bradylyons, said he\u2019s observed a change in the types of cases being pursued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a market change in the kinds of cases that are being investigated and charged,\u201d he said, pointing to the prioritization of fraud cases centered on procurement, government programs and health care over complex fraud cases.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has also repeatedly signaled its desire to \u201cwork with states.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you allow hundreds of millions, billions, even more money to go out the door, not to health care services for low-income families, but to fraudsters, you eventually are going to destroy the Medicaid program,\u201d Vance said at a May 14 press conference. \u201cSo this is why we say red state, blue state, this does not need to be a political or a partisan issue. We want to work with you to eliminate fraud and make these programs last longer for the people who truly need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But beyond leveraging the control the federal government has over the flow of money \u2014 threatening to withhold funds for failure to comply with the administration\u2019s efforts \u2014 it\u2019s unclear what this looks like in practice for most states.<\/p>\n

Officials from Democratic- and Republican-led states told NOTUS that strong collaboration with the federal government continues, but did not note any changes in recent months.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the South Carolina attorney general\u2019s office said its unit dedicated to investigating Medicaid fraud against vulnerable adults has long partnered with federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese partnerships \u2014 including those with the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others \u2014 have resulted in a substantial number of arrests within the Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud unit\u2019s jurisdiction,\u201d Robert Kittle, the communications director, said in an email. \u201cAlthough Medicaid fraud has received increased national attention recently, these federal relationships have remained strong and unchanged in South Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the politicization of alleged fraud<\/u><\/span> in Minnesota on the national stage, a spokesperson for Attorney General Keith Ellison\u2019s office said collaboration on benefits fraud continues as normal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout three separate federal administrations, [Minnesota\u2019s] Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has regularly investigated expansive Medicaid fraud schemes in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigations,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cAny rhetoric coming from outside Minnesota is not affecting the day-to-day work of, and collaboration between, the dedicated MFCU investigators and federal law enforcement agents tasked with building these complex Medicaid Fraud cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbey Stosberg, a spokesperson with the Missouri attorney general\u2019s office, pointed to this year\u2019s National Medicaid Fraud Takedown with the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri had the second-most cases filed out of any state,\u201d he said. \u201cWe partner daily with the Office of Inspector General on investigations, information sharing, and other efforts to combat fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a press release<\/u><\/span> from the Justice Department, this year\u2019s fraud takedown resulted in 455 defendants facing charges for over $6.5 billion in alleged fraud.The takedowns are an annual collaboration between HHS and the DOJ that dates back years.<\/p>\n

The DOJ spokesperson said state-federal collaboration had increased under this administration, but didn\u2019t offer specifics.<\/p>\n

Read more The Woman in the Metro Photo Wanted to Be Alone. Instead, She Went Viral.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department created a new fraud division, but former employees say the change moved resources and work from units that were already tackling the issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump-white-house"],"yoast_head":"\nOld Infrastructure Underpins Trump Administration\u2019s New War on Fraud - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1093\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Old Infrastructure Underpins Trump Administration\u2019s New War on Fraud - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Justice Department created a new fraud division, but former employees say the change moved resources and work from units that were already tackling the issues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=1093\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T09:08:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Old Infrastructure Underpins Trump Administration\u2019s New War on Fraud\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T09:08:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093\"},\"wordCount\":1153,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dae39168caeee701263cb64e11981e9c-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Trump White House\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093\",\"name\":\"Old Infrastructure Underpins Trump Administration\u2019s New War on Fraud - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dae39168caeee701263cb64e11981e9c-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T09:08:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=1093#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dae39168caeee701263cb64e11981e9c-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dae39168caeee701263cb64e11981e9c-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1709,\"caption\":\"Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news conference on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Minneapolis. 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