President Donald Trump announced a fraud whistleblower program Tuesday that allows American citizens to earn a commission by reporting fraud operations in their communities.
The $25 million Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP) will allow American citizens and journalists alike to report fraud to Fraud.gov and earn a commission of 1 percent on the total dollar amount of fraud unearthed based on the tip to federal authorities.
“We’ve waged an unprecedented war on corruption and fraud, and will not let our country be looted and plundered by thieves and pirates and foreign fraudsters and basically scum,” Trump said in an Oval Office announcement.
Trump used Minnesota as an example, stating 115 “fraudsters” there “have been arrested and charged,” 75 of whom have already been convicted. He also said that 2,700 subpoenas have been issued related to fraud, adding that Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., is “100 percent guilty,” adding, “He’s a fraud. He’s a thief. He’s a crook, and he’s getting away by just getting out of office.”
The president also appeared to reference Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who is currently under investigation for immigration fraud, stating “she knew” about the fraud because “the lovely community from Somalia … was stealing billions and billions of dollars, taxpayer money, through fraudulent child care centers and other scams, including the infamous Quality Learing Center.”
Trump was flanked by independent journalist Nick Shirley, who exposed the Somali fraud in Minnesota, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance, who leads the White House anti-fraud task force, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, who is vice chair of the task force, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
According to Trump, his administration has uncovered $260 billion of fraud, which he said is “peanuts compared to what the real number is,” adding the new incentive will hopefully fast-track uncovering much more fraud. The Trump administration has also removed 160,000 dead people from food stamps, 275,000 illegal aliens from Social Security, uncovered 562,000 fraudulent small business loans, stopped funding fraudulent hospice facilities estimated to have stolen $1.4 billion, and gotten rid of $125 billion in Obamacare subsidies.
While some reporting states that those who report fraud will be capped at $30,000, Trump appeared to say that there was no limit in the announcement Tuesday.
The fraud focus is not just on Minnesota, and Trump said it happens in both Republican- and Democrat-led areas, with a significantly larger amount happening in areas run by Democrats. California, for example, has implemented the Stop Nick Shirley Act, protecting fraudsters in the state. In response, Oz announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is deferring $1.2 billion in funding from California.
Earlier Tuesday, federal authorities raided allegedly fraudulent health care facilities across New York City, which Oz said is the “largest enforcement action of its kind.”
Ferguson said that on Monday, authorities “filed to seize half a city block in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with property that had been obtained with SNAP dollars that should have gone to hungry Minnesotans and was instead used to buy, illegally and fraudulently, property in Minneapolis.”
“You can run, you can’t hide. We’re going to get you,” he added.
Ferguson added that the Trump administration has proposed two pieces of legislation to Congress related to fraud, one of which would establish mandatory-minimum sentencing for fraud, as opposed to the current dynamic where “judges are routinely giving slaps on the wrists to people who commit what they consider low-level fraud.”
The other item is setting up civil liability for public officials who knew about fraud in their states and allowed it to proceed — a proposal Vance said “congressional Democrats have fought that every step of the way.”
“The main thing I want the American people to know is that if you’re a middle-class taxpayer in this country, before President Trump came along, you spent half your working life paying for fraudsters and scammers, many of whom are refugees, illegal aliens, and foreigners who came to this country to loot and plunder us,” Miller said.
