Con artists steal millions every year from vulnerable Americans, but it increasingly appears that the real money is in ripping off U.S. taxpayers. As bank robber Willie Sutton famously said, “That’s where the money is.”
Some experts put the total amount of federal and state COVID money that ended up in the hand of fraudsters at nearly $1 trillion. Others estimate that $500 billion in federal spending is diverted by charlatans each year. Republicans and the White House have made it a point during President Donald Trump’s second term to tighten the rules for various federal programs to attack such brazen thievery.
This shouldn’t be controversial, yet it is. Some Democrats argue that efforts to combat fraud risk making it more difficult for the poor to access government services. But isn’t it equally important to ensure that federal programs are run efficiently, and that taxpayer money is directed to the people it is supposed to help rather than siphoned off by criminals?
This week, CBS News reported on the case of one serial fraudster in California. Paul Randall was out on bond awaiting sentencing after being convicted for the sixth time on federal fraud charges “when he started his latest scheme.” He was caught and, in April, pleaded guilty of diverting more than $270 million in Medicaid money. He’ll be sentenced this summer and faces up to 30 years in prison.
“Obviously there’s a breakdown in the criminal justice system if this guy was able to have six convictions and never did any real prison time,” Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, told the network. Mr. Essayli noted that Randall “was living like a king off of us.”
One data company CEO told CBS that the U.S. government routinely falls prey to international criminals who steal billions in taxpayer money and quickly whisk it out of the country. “It goes to Russia, it goes to China, it goes to Nigeria, it goes to Romania,” said Haywood Talcove, head of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Government. He added that American “taxpayers are funding transnational criminals.”
Yet some states, particularly those run by Democrats, continue to downplay Trump administration efforts to crack down on criminals who see the U.S. Treasury as a piggy bank. Courthouse News reported last month that 20 Democratic state attorneys general — including Nevada’s Aaron Ford — opted to skip a recent White House roundtable on combatting fraud, claiming the invitation came too late.
It would be a boon to American taxpayers if Democrats joined Republicans in advocating for reforms to various federal programs intended to make it more difficult for fraudsters to get their hands on the money in the first place.
