The Justice Department has brought federal charges against 160 defendants accused of defrauding government programs out of more than $245 million through pandemic relief schemes. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the sweep on Tuesday, stating that the operation, which spanned from mid-June to September, involved prosecutors nationwide.
Blanche noted that approximately 80 of the charged individuals were arrested for suspected COVID fraud in Missouri and surrounding states. In a separate case, federal prosecutors in Southern California charged 12 individuals operating at-home childcare facilities. These defendants are accused of fraudulently collecting over $10 million in government childcare payments, despite allegedly having few or no children enrolled. The defendants in this California case are naturalized citizens from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia.
Prosecutors highlighted instances where defendants allegedly submitted claims for payments while not physically present in the United States. One defendant, Turkiya Alawad, 63, is accused of submitting and collecting childcare payments between January 1 and January 30, 2024, while she was reportedly outside the U.S.
This childcare fraud case in California is reportedly larger than the Feeding Our Future case in Minnesota, which involved approximately $4.6 million in claims to the Child Care Assistance Program. Attorney General Blanche emphasized that individuals who knowingly break the law will be held accountable.
The Trump administration has prioritized investigating and prosecuting fraud and abuse within government programs. Vice President JD Vance chairs the administration's fraud task force, which has reportedly led to numerous arrests across the country.