Every single week, there are new revelations exposing just how insanely large the fraud industry in our country is. On Thursday, multiple federal officials exposed new charges and statistics regarding small business fraud, healthcare fraud, and COVID-19 assistance fraud.
FBI Director Kash Patel also specifically called upon the American people for assistance, urging anyone with information about potential fraud to contact the FBI. He unveiled a list of the top most wanted fraudsters, which you can see below.
Today we're announcing unprecedented federal & state cooperation in Ohio in the fight against fraud, including:
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) June 4, 2026
✅Partnerships & a data sharing agreement to enhance the detection & prosecution of fraud
✅Federal & state charges against 9 defendants for their alleged… pic.twitter.com/wAPQhIabWJ
The Small Business Administration’s Kelly Loeffler said that taxpayers should not suffer from those who “would rather steal from hardworking Americans than become hardworking Americans.” She specifically highlighted the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), “which will go down as one of the most defrauded federal programs in American history.”
She continued, “During the [COVID] pandemic, our agency delivered $1.2 trillion that was meant for small businesses, of which the Office of Inspector General deemed $200 billion was stolen, including right here in Ohio.” That’s profoundly horrifying.
Related: Justice Department Charges Fraudsters Who Stole $50 Million in Ohio
Loeffler accused, “The Biden administration chose to look the other way, giving criminals de facto amnesty at the expense of you taxpayers. But this administration is choosing accountability. Last month, the SBA referred 560,000 borrowers to the DOJ and Treasury. That's over half a million borrowers to start collections and prosecutions for $22 billion in suspected PPP fraud.”
She also announced suspensions “for 140,000 borrowers across California, Minnesota, and Maine, totaling $9 billion. And today, I'm here to announce suspensions for over 27,000 Ohio borrowers tied to $1.1 billion in suspected PPP fraud.” No wonder our national debt is over $39 trillion.
I already reported earlier on Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson announcing a new phase of penalties for states that will not provide adequate resources to addressing fraud in their Medicaid systems. “Everyone is being out noticed and today, [and] Hawaii is being decertified for abject failure to enforce state and federal law to prohibit fraud in Hawaii,” Ferguson said. “The reason this is important is because one of the requirements for getting Medicaid money for your state is to have an effective Medicaid fraud control unit. And if you don't have one, it can jeopardize the state’s access to Medicaid money generally.”
Just in Ohio, the Department of Justice found over $50 million in fraudulent healthcare billing to the government. Some of the fraud was specifically related to COVID-19 aid.
In short, stealing from taxpayers appears to be one of the most widespread and lucrative industries in America.
