Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined senior federal law enforcement officials to announce expanded efforts to combat government benefits fraud in Minnesota, including new financial reporting guidance, a $25 million whistleblower incentive program and additional enforcement actions targeting alleged Medicaid fraud.
The announcement came one day after federal investigators executed search warrants and arrested four individuals in connection with an alleged Medicaid fraud scheme involving more than $41 million in intended fraudulent payments and approximately $21.65 million in actual losses.
Bessent was joined by FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and senior Justice Department officials.
“President Trump has made clear that the war on fraud is not the work of one department, but a mandate we must carry across the Administration,” Bessent said.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert directing financial institutions to pay closer attention to certain cross-border transactions involving U.S.-based money services businesses. According to Treasury, financial institutions reported more than $8 billion in potentially suspicious foreign agent-directed payments between 2021 and 2025.
The $8 billion represents potentially suspicious transactions, not a determination that all funds were connected to criminal activity. FinCEN also issued guidance intended to help banks identify charities and nonprofits that may be exploited for terrorist financing, fraud or other illicit activity.
The administration established a centralized reporting portal at America.gov/fraud and a $25 million Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program. Qualifying individuals may be eligible for rewards up to $30,000 when their information produces qualifying enforcement results.
Bessent said Treasury had returned approximately $175 million in payments otherwise destined for deceased individuals and expanded access to its Do Not Pay screening system. He said the department had stopped nearly $190 million in funds connected to overseas fraud and returned over $100 million to U.S. victims.
Minnesota has been the focus of major government-benefit fraud prosecutions, including the Feeding Our Future case involving misuse of child nutrition program funding. Administration officials sharply criticized the oversight of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, but their allegations do not establish that Walz personally participated in or knowingly permitted criminal activity.
The new initiatives form part of a government-wide anti-fraud effort coordinated through a White House task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance. The four individuals arrested in the latest Medicaid investigation are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
