Any organization as vast and complex as the federal government is ripe for fraud. There are literally millions of people managing all the ways money flows into and out of the government, and amazingly, a lot is disbursed through things like QuickBooks accounts that can be edited after checks are cut. Embezzlers do get caught, nonetheless. These systems must have some kind of audit trail, because that is how a fraudster at the State Department got caught. Fox Business anchor Elizabeth McDonald broke that story on X on Sunday.

Thousands of federal workers as low as budget analysts have signature authority over disbursing your taxpayer $ via things like Quickbook accounts & have been accused of embezzling & fraud to the GAO. A State Dept. budget analyst in the protocol office just pled guilty to… pic.twitter.com/9AGG6Q1lTc

— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) May 4, 2025

The X post continues:

 A State Dept. budget analyst in the protocol office just pled guilty to stealing more than $657K via her signature authority over a common Quickbooks checking account fm 3/22 to 4/24.

She wrote 5 dozen checks  to herself and 3 more to an individual with whom she had a personal relationship, but then changed the listed payee in the Quickbooks system to an actual State Department vendor. No one would have caught this without an audit.

There are more than 2,000 Quickbook accounts throughout the federal government that are ripe for a Doge audit. The GAO’s Fraudnet got 4,044 fraud allegations against thousands of federal workers in just 2023 alone at 50 agencies including the Pentagon, the DOJ and the Treasury Dept.  

The GAO already estimated taxpayers lose between $231B-$521B annually including by federal workers and contractors embezzling and committing fraud. That money could go towards tax cuts for you.

There is no small irony here, with a budget analyst being busted for embezzlement.

See Also: Refund Time: Trump Labor Dept Returning Over a Billion in Unspent COVID Funding to Treasury

Elon Musk and the DOGE Team Talk About Why Fraud Happens So Easily in the Federal Government

Think on that for a moment; 2,000 QuickBooks accounts? From which low-level bureaucrats can just write checks? That seems inexcusably loose. But this report prompts the question: If the GAO knows that between $213 billion and $521 billion is being stolen annually by federal workers, if they are getting in excess of 4,000 allegations per year, why aren't we seeing more of the fraudsters getting caught?

This seems a great target for the DOGE. All of these QuickBooks accounts need to be audited forthwith, and what's more, the entire process of issuing payments should be overhauled. There must be some kind of check on anyone who is disbursing federal monies.

Every day we work, a portion of the money we earn goes to Washington. We don't surrender the fruits of our labors by choice; they are taken from us by force of law, and if you don't believe that, stop paying your taxes and see how long it is before the government sends men with guns out looking for you. The very least thing we should expect in return is to have our money spent responsibly, and to have the government be able to accurately account for every penny.

The federal apparatus is great at tracking down people who owe $48 in back taxes, but they seem to be a little too easy to defraud from within.

DOGE is finding billions of dollars in wasteful spending, and the Democrats are losing their minds as they realize their gravy train and woke projects are coming to an end.

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