By Janice Hisle
and Emel Akan
Contributing Writers
CINCINNATI, Ohio — The United States’ first nationwide surge against food-assistance fraud has led to charges against more than 40 suspects in $45 million worth of schemes so far.
On Wednesday, at the Cincinnati FBI office, Vice President JD Vance and other officials told reporters about the results of the seven-week, multi-agency enforcement effort.
About $42 million of the alleged fraud involved the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps.
“We’re done looking the other way when it comes to fraud,” Vance said.
Fraudsters “steal from the mouths of hungry children in order to get rich themselves,” he said, noting that members of his own family benefited from these important programs while he was growing up in an underprivileged home.
About 220,000 Americans could have eaten for the entire month of October with the stolen SNAP funds, Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Enforcement efforts will continue to be a focus under President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, both leaders said.
Vance heads that group; Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson serves as its co-chair.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who heads the Justice Department’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division, said: “There is no program too noble for a fraudster. They will take whatever they can, no matter the financial cost and no matter the human toll.”
He highlighted some individual cases that show “the scope of deception, greed and exploitation we are confronting.”
For example, in the Southern District of Ohio, the local attorney general’s office obtained an indictment against two suspects who are accused of using food stores they owned “to generate thousands of fake food purchases, ultimately resulting in a loss of approximately $29.7 million to the United States.” The suspects were arrested in Chicago just prior to the news conference, McDonald said.
Trump to Launch $25M Fraud Whistleblower Program
Trump and Vance announced on Tuesday the launch of a $25 million Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP).
The program is designed to reward Americans who help expose misuse of public funds.
Under the initiative, individuals who submit tips resulting in a successful fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action will be eligible to receive up to $30,000, the official said.
The Department of Justice will manage the program, and Americans will be able to submit tips online at fraud.gov.
As part of the Oval Office announcement, Trump presented independent reporter Nick Shirley with a $10,000 check in recognition of his efforts to uncover alleged fraud at daycare facilities in Minnesota.
In December last year, Shirley shared a video showing empty daycare centers and spoke with people nearby who said they had never seen children at those facilities. The video went viral, leading to several investigations, arrests and new charges by law enforcement.
In July, Fahima Mahamud, who appeared in Shirley’s video, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government as part of the Feeding Our Future scandal.
“Every day, President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is zeroing in on the rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars and giving Americans the accountability they deserve,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement. “This administration has zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans.”
