US Vice President JD Vance has revealed that an anti-fraud task force is working to recover hundreds of billions of dollars in fraudulent small business loans, COVID-19 relief, and student aid.
Vance disclosed this during a Tuesday meeting with state attorneys general as part of his task force on fraud.
He said that in two months, the task force has “exposed billions of dollars in benefits that had been stolen from the American people.”
“We referred over $22 billion in fraudulent small business loans back to the Treasury for collection,” he said. “We deferred more than $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements that were coming from various states, particularly California. We put a six-month hold on enrollments for new hospice and home health care providers, because so many of the newer hospice providers were not actually providing hospice services but were just focused on fraud.”
Another $135 billion “stolen after the floodgates were opened in the immediate aftermath of COVID,” were also clawed back, as was $6.3 billion in “suspected fraudulent government contracts,” he added.
In a press release, the White House said Trump and Vance are “unleashing an unrelenting, full-scale assault on the fraudsters, scammers and corrupt operators who have looted billions from American taxpayers.” The release included a list of alleged fraud cases and actions, including many instances focused on Minnesota and California. No Republican-led states were cited.
Below are some of the Task Force’s key actions and victories to date:
- February 25, 2026: The Trump Administration halted nearly $260 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota over rampant fraud allegations, demanding full cooperation with federal investigators.
- March 19, 2026: Federal prosecutors charged 11 individuals in a major real estate and loan fraud ring preying on elderly Americans in California.
- March 25, 2026: The Trump Administration suspended dozens of high-risk hospice and home health providers in the Los Angeles area.
- March 30, 2026: The Trump Administration launched a new national fraud whistleblower program to empower Americans to expose waste and abuse.
- April 2, 2026: The Trump Administration suspended hundreds additional high-risk hospice and home health providers across California.
- April 3, 2026: Federal prosecutors charged more than a dozen individuals in a $50 million hospice fraud scheme.
- April 7, 2026: The Department of Justice secured a guilty plea from a California fraudster accused of submitting $270 million in false reimbursement claims.
- April 8, 2026: The Department of Justice confirmed it has 8,000 active, ongoing fraud cases.
- April 8, 2026: The Task Force uncovered $6.3 billion in suspected fraudulent government contracts and immediately launched a sweeping investigation.
- April 15, 2026: The Trump Administration suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles, with estimated fraud exceeding $600 million.
- April 16, 2026: The Trump Administration served criminal warrants and administrative charges on 20 Minnesota businesses suspected of SNAP fraud.
- April 17, 2026: The Department of Justice announced its newly established National Fraud Enforcement Division took enforcement action in schemes totaling over $340 million in its first week alone.
- April 24, 2026: The Small Business Administration referred 562,000 fraudulent or delinquent pandemic-era loans — totaling $22 billion — for aggressive collection.
- April 28, 2026: The Department of Justice conducted targeted enforcement operations at nearly two dozen Minnesota childcare centers suspected of systemic fraud.
- April 30, 2026: The Department of Justice launched a West Coast Strike Force team targeting healthcare fraud across Arizona, Nevada, and northern California.
- April 30, 2026: The Trump Administration deferred an additional $91 million in federal Medicaid funds from non-cooperating Minnesota.
- May 12, 2026: The Trump Administration identified over 10,000 suspected fraud cases in immigration student work programs.
- May 13, 2026: The Trump Administration suspended $1.4 billion in home health and hospice funding nationwide.
- May 13, 2026: The Trump Administration deferred $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid reimbursements for California.
- May 13, 2026: The Trump Administration halted all new Medicare enrollments for hospice providers nationwide until the fraud crisis is brought under control.
- May 13, 2026: The Trump Administration launched audits of Medicaid Fraud Control Units in all 50 states.
- May 13, 2026: The Trump Administration blocked $60 million in fraudulent student loan applications in just the first month since deploying enhanced screening.
- May 20, 2026: The Department of Justice charged a Minneapolis daycare owner featured in Nick Shirley’s viral video.
- May 21, 2026: The Department of Justice expanded its Health Care Fraud Strike Force program, adding additional prosecutors to combat Medicaid fraud nationwide.
- May 21, 2026: The Department of Justice charged 15 individuals in a wide-ranging Minnesota healthcare fraud scheme — including the highest loss amount ever charged in a Medicaid case in the state and the largest autism fraud scheme ever prosecuted.
