The Trump administration is going after people defrauding the federal government, bigly. And by defrauding the federal government, well, we can take that to mean "stealing from us, the taxpayers." The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a new branch, the National Fraud Enforcement Division, and they are already on the prowl, with a West Coast Task Force looking into fraud accusations in Arizona, Nevada, and northern California.
📢 The Fraud Division launches West Coast Strike Force to target HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEMES across AZ, NV, and Northern CA
— National Fraud Enforcement Division (@DOJFraudDiv) April 30, 2026
“Driven by data showing a significant and accelerating increase in health care fraud across all three districts, the Strike Force builds on a foundation of… pic.twitter.com/oCHFixftjE
The X post states:
The Fraud Division launches West Coast Strike Force to target HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEMES across AZ, NV, and Northern CA
“Driven by data showing a significant and accelerating increase in health care fraud across all three districts, the Strike Force builds on a foundation of recent landmark prosecutions — including the successful prosecution of digital health technology executives in the Northern District of California and the dismantling of Medicaid, sober home, and wound care fraud schemes in the District of Arizona,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.
A press release from the DOJ provides more specifics:
This expansion brings enhanced federal enforcement resources to one of the nation’s most significant health care technology hubs in the Northern District of California and what data analytics show is the migration of fraud schemes to Arizona and Nevada. Late last year in San Francisco, the CEO and Chief Medical Officer of a digital technology company were convicted for an over $100 million scheme to commit health care fraud and distribute over Adderall over the internet, resulting in addiction and patient harm. These convictions followed other recent high-impact prosecutions that were jointly prosecuted by the Strike Force and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices prosecutors:
- United States v. Gehrke and King (DAZ): Two wound graft company owners pled guilty and were sentenced to 15.5 and 14 years in prison for a $1.2 billion wound graft fraud scheme targeting Medicare and Medicaid. The Government seized $126 million in assets, including cash, luxury vehicles, and gold bars, related to this case.
- United States v. Ali (DAZ): The owner of a Pakistan-based medical billing company was indicted in June 2025 for an alleged scheme involving the exploitation of substance abuse patients at over 41 substance abuse treatment clinics that fraudulently billed Arizona Medicaid over $650 million. The defendant is a Pakistani national and fugitive from justice.
- United States v. Schena (NDCA): The president of a Silicon Valley-based medical technology company was convicted at trial and sentenced to eight years in prison in the first criminal securities fraud case related to COVID-19 charged by the Justice Department, the first criminal COVID-19 health care fraud case brought to trial, and a significant prosecution delineating the scope of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act. United States v. Schena, No. 23-2989 (9th Cir. 2025).
It's a safe bet that this is a drop in the bucket.
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This West Coast Task Force should, hopefully, be the first of many such task forces. This is a matter of enforcement that has been sadly neglected for some time now, and never has it been more sadly neglected than during the four-year tenure of Autopen Joe Biden. Cast your optics over the amounts just in the three cases that the DOJ press release describes, multiply that by hundreds, or thousands, of such cases, and the amounts stolen could easily run into billions, if not trillions. Yes, trillions, as in a "T" followed by a "rillion." And every penny - sorry, we're doing away with pennies - every nickel of that money was stolen from the taxpayers, and represents money that could have been spent elsewhere or, better, not spent at all.
Stay tuned, because we can expect some big things from this task force, and the others that are sure to follow.
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