Jan. 8 (UPI) — Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday the creation of a new Justice Department fraud division and an assistant attorney general that will focus on thwarting fraud in the United States and its territories.
The Trump administration said the new division will “combat the rampant and pervasive problem of fraud in the United States,” in a press release.
The new Justice Department division and assistant attorney general will enforce federal criminal and civil laws to oppose fraud that targets federal programs, federally funded benefits, businesses, non-profits and private citizens throughout the nation.
The new fraud assistant attorney general has been selected but has not been named, Politico reported.
Vance said the new fraud division and federal prosecutor at first will focus on fraud claims in Minnesota and expand the effort nationwide “because, unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.”
Vance said he and President Donald Trump will work with the fraud division’s lead prosecutor, who might be announced sometime next week.
“This is the person who is going to make sure we stop defrauding the American people,” Vance added.
The Minnesota fraud allegations involve the abuse of federal and state programs designed to feed children and provide housing, healthcare and child care services, among others, but many suggest such problems exist in every state.
The Trump administration on Tuesday froze more than $10 billion in federal funding for vulnerable programs in Minnesota, California, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey.
Politico said the governors of those states called the move politically motivated and said it would harm families that depend on them for support.
The FBI is investigating dozens of Minnesota’s healthcare and home care providers that have been accused of fraud and have charged 98 defendants, 85 of whom are of Somali descent, and secured convictions of 64 so far.
Among those charged with alleged fraud crimes are 13 who were featured in a recent viral video of a child care center in Minneapolis.
The Justice Department also has doubled the number of federal prosecutors handling fraud cases in Minnesota, along with some 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
An ICE officer on Wednesday shot and killed Renee Good, 37, who is accused of blocking ICE vehicles and running into the ICE officer as several of them tried to detain her for alleged obstruction of federal law enforcement.
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