U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took steps to combat Somali fraud on Friday with a new anonymous reporting portal for whistleblowers, offering monetary rewards for those who expose the theft of public funds.
“President Trump has been clear that Americans have a right to know that their tax dollars are not being diverted to fund acts of global terror or to fund luxury cars for fraudsters,” said Bessent on X.
“At Treasury, we follow the money. We did it with the mafia, we have done it with the cartels, and we’re doing it with the Somali fraudsters. We are going to offer whistleblower payments to anyone who wants to tell us the who, what, when, where, and how this fraud and money laundering has occurred,” he added.
Bessent clarified in an interview with CNBC that rewards for whistleblowers could range between 10% and 30% of the fines levied against fraudsters.
With fraudsters stealing millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded welfare programs like Medicaid by billing for services that never took place, rewards for whistleblowers could be extremely substantial and may cause fraudsters to turn on each other.
“We know that these rats will turn on each other,” said Bessent in an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”
The new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network portal will accept whistleblower information on money laundering, fraud, and sanctions violations.
The portal explicitly aims to combat fraud operations led by Somali immigrants, operating across multiple states.
The Treasury’s press release also highlighted actions taken to combat fraud in Minnesota, including investigations into Money Services Businesses that facilitate money transfers, including remittances to Somalia, and the misuse of child nutrition program funds.
While national media and enforcement action against fraud operations have focused on Minnesota, the federal government is turning its attention toward Maine after The Maine Wire exposed the massive amount of allegedly fraudulent Medicaid recipients, such as the now-infamous Gateway Community Services, tied to Somali-born state legislators.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz issued a warning to Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) on February 6, demanding that the state respond after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) investigators identified $45 million in improper payments intended to help children with autism.
Administrator Oz gave Gov. Mills 30 days to respond and warned that the CMS is ready to take action if they are not satisfied with her answers.
“We want to know what MaineCare is doing to 1) prevent fraud, 2) identify fraud when it happens, 3) ban dishonest providers from billing the system, and 4) recover stolen or misspent taxpayer funds. If we’re not satisfied with their answers, CMS is ready to take action. Gov. Mills has 30 days to respond. The clock is ticking,” said Oz.
