Vice President JD Vance just did something that nobody in Washington has apparently thought to do in decades — he got the FBI to publish a top 10 Most Wanted Fraudsters list, and the numbers behind it are staggering. We're talking $1.2 billion in fraud uncovered in Ohio's Medicaid home-health program alone, a $600 million fraud bust shutting down 447 Louisiana hospices, and billions more clawed back across the country.
Government actually doing its job. Somebody pinch us.
Vance, who serves as Chairman of the administration's Fraud Task Force, unveiled the list at a press conference in Ohio on June 4 alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. This wasn't some vague press release about "cracking down on waste." This was names, faces, and dollar amounts — the kind of thing that makes fraudsters sweat.
Patel didn't mince words at the announcement. "I want all Americans to take a look at these Most Wanted individuals, and look at the amounts — the tens of millions and billions of dollars in fraud," the FBI Director said. "Let us know any information." That's right — the FBI is literally asking the American public to help track these people down. When's the last time a federal agency actually invited citizens to participate in accountability?
But here's where it gets really good. Vance didn't just roll out a list and call it a day. He went scorched earth on states that have been sitting on fraud money and doing absolutely nothing with it. His target? Hawaii.
"Hawaii state officials stole around $12M from you," Vance said. "The money was supposed to be used to prosecute fraudsters, but they didn't indict a single person in 4 years." Let that sink in. Hawaii's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, under Attorney General Anne Lopez, collected $12 million that was earmarked for going after crooks — and managed zero indictments in four years. Not one.
The response was swift. HHS Inspector General March Bell denied the Hawaii unit federal certification, and the state lost $3 million in annual federal funding. That's what accountability looks like when someone in Washington actually cares enough to check the receipts.
The Fraud Task Force isn't a one-man show either. Dr. Mehmet Oz, serving as CMS Administrator, has been instrumental on the healthcare fraud side, and Andrew Ferguson is Vice Chairman of the White House Task Force. These aren't figureheads collecting government paychecks — they're producing results with actual dollar figures attached.
As RedState's Jennifer Oliver O'Connell reported, the scope of what this task force has uncovered is breathtaking. Billions in fraud clawed back since its inception. Hundreds of fraudulent operations shuttered. And now a public most-wanted list that puts faces on the crime.
We spent years watching the previous administration hand out money like candy at a parade and then shrug when it disappeared. Now we've got a Vice President who treats taxpayer dollars like they actually belong to taxpayers.
What a concept.