15 Los Angeles Fraudsters Stole Almost $2 Billion

The amount of taxpayer money that has gone to criminals while politicians, particularly Democrats, looked the other way is mind-blowingly massive.

Good morning!

— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 22, 2026

Just 15 malicious actors in a single state were able to steal $1.8 billion from the U.S. government. Think how many honest Americans had to pay taxes for that money. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald made the announcement on Thursday. “The charges today span the full range of healthcare fraud that has taken root in California and across the country: substance abuse treatment fraud, medically unnecessary surgical procedures, kickback-driven genetic testing, and hospice fraud,” he said.

He added, “Ten defendants have already been arrested, including eight arrests today in a coordinated early morning takedown in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago. Our message is simple: if you steal from the American taxpayer, if you exploit vulnerable Americans, if you treat healthcare patients as dollar bills, the Department of Justice is coming for you …Stop your dishonesty, stop your lies, or we will stop you.”

BREAKING: Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald announces Los Angeles Health Care Fraud Takedown results in charges against 15 defendants, including 6 medical professionals, 1.8 billion loss. https://t.co/aBm1lwYepb

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 22, 2026

Unfortunately, our whole healthcare industry now is built around treating patients as dollar bills instead of as individuals in need of healing. And given how bloated our medical bureaucracy is, there are a lot of opportunities for criminals to exploit the system.

For Our VIPs: Is the Rapper Fraudster Who Burned Money the Perfect Metaphor for America’s Bureaucracy?

The Trump administration is focusing on a major fraud crackdown right now, with several major announcements this week. They included a new program for rewarding whistleblowers with a one percent commission on substantial and verifiable fraud. An interagency investigation also identified, in less than two months, about $24 million of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud. For context, that's enough to have fed 220,000 Americans for a month. 

Perhaps the most infamous of these SNAP fraudsters is rapper-influencer Mercedes New, also known as Shawty Dred, who burned cash, mocked financially disadvantaged Americans, and posed with luxurious mansions and transportation on social media. New stole Georgians' identities to enroll for hundreds of SNAP EBT cards that he sold for cash or used at his corrupt "company."

Meanwhile, the FBI and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are particularly scrutinizing New York after identifying senior care center fraud, and noting that New York Medicaid enrollees require about 40% to 60% more money than the national average.

And considering how hysterical Democrats have been about the fraud investigations, and how Dems are even running campaign ads citing the cuts of waste and abuse as a negative, I think we can be pretty sure that they knew about and supported all this criminal misuse of taxpayer dollars.

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