Posted on 08/31/2026 3:49:39 AM PDT by Libloather
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on Sunday teased an upcoming announcement about the Trump administration’s fraud crackdown.
In a post on X, Duffy said there would be “unprecedented fraud crackdown” announcement on Monday.
“TOMORROW: UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD CRACKDOWN,” the secretary wrote.
In the post, he also tagged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, suggesting a multi-department effort targeting fraud.
Duffy did not disclose details of the announcement, including when or where it will take place, what type of fraud will be discussed or whether any arrests have been made.
The announcement comes amid the administration’s broader crackdown on fraud. Trump established the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in March to coordinate efforts involving federal benefit programs.
The DOJ has also created a National Fraud Enforcement Division to investigate and prosecute the theft or fraudulent misuse of taxpayer dollars.
Duffy’s Department of Transportation has worked with DHS in recent months to crack down on alleged fraud and safety violations in the commercial trucking industry, including improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses, fraudulent driving schools and unvetted foreign drivers.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Well, sending even more illegal truck drivers back from where ever they came from would be a start.
The phrase “unprecedented fraud crackdown” refers to a major multi-department initiative by the Trump administration in August 2026. It targets wide-ranging scams across public benefit programs, government spending, and commercial services.
Most recently, on August 31, 2026, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a joint crackdown by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This specific prong targets truck driver schools, improper licensing certifications, and unvetted foreign drivers on American roads.
1. White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud: Established by executive order, this centralized task force is led by Vice President JD Vance to root out waste, abuse, and corruption in public benefit systems.
National Fraud Enforcement Division: A newly created division within the Department of Justice (DOJ), led by California prosecutor Colin McDonald, designed specifically to prosecute the theft of taxpayer dollars.The Fraud Ledger: The White House launched an online tracker called the White House Fraud Ledger, which claims the task force has uncovered more than $229 billion in suspected government-wide fraud since January 2025.
2. Healthcare & Medicaid: Led by CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administration has cracked down heavily on Medicare and Medicaid schemes. Notable actions include the 2026 National Healthcare Fraud Takedown, which resulted in charges against 455 defendants over $6.5 billion in false claims, alongside freezing or deferring billions in Medicaid payments to states like California and Minnesota over noncompliance.
Commercial Trucking & Licensing: The joint DHS/DOT probe targets driving schools that allegedly issued commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to non-citizens using falsified records.
Public Assistance (SNAP & Housing): The administration has significantly increased scrutiny on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), permanently disqualifying hundreds of retailers, and suspended funding for groups like the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority due to mismanagement.
Immigration & Voter Registration: The task force has been utilized to review high-profile immigration fraud allegations, alongside launching election-related crackdowns, such as a recent arrest in Los Angeles for non-citizen voter registration.
3. The crackdown has faced pushback from state officials and legal experts. Opponents and civil rights groups have raised concerns that the aggressive freezing of state funds acts as a political tool against Democratic-led states. Furthermore, some policies have faced roadblocks in federal court for violating statutory guidelines, and critics have pointed out that the administration’s parallel use of presidential pardons for certain convicted white-collar fraudsters undercuts the DOJ’s stated goal of returning money to taxpayers.
Was it Gill who said, “Do you kiss your brother with that mouth?”
Please Be Los Angles
Voters deserve to know whether Xavier Becerra knew about corruption scandal
That would be a funny picture.
And I would not complain.
Societies that advance, which truly prosper share certain characteristics.
An aversion to corruption being one of them.
Highly corrupt societies, like Mexico, don't go anywhere. They have EVERYTHING you can dream of (oil, gold, silver, copper, fishing, agra, livestock, people...) to be a wealthy nation, but they are generally poor and the place is dangerous. Corruption is one of their main reasons for being in the dumpster. Of course as all who fail and never rise up, instead of looking at their own actions and values, they project their failure on the US.
Corruption leads to the miss-allocation of resources and retards economic, infrastructure, and scientific development.
Societies that are successful:
—Low corruption
—Homogeneous value system
—Willingness to use force to defend interests
—Embrace family and children (there is no society if you go extinct).
—Embrace science and engineering (you don't progress if you kill someone because they questions if Mohamed really rode a horse to the moon).
—Time sensitivity (it's impossible to run modern industrial processes which require time coordination in a society where people cannot show up on time).
—Personal culpability and property.
Until now, he has chosen ignorance. He told people he had no idea his chief of staff had hatched this scheme. McCluskie had somehow cured his financial concerns about the move and was just doing his job.
Seems to me that ignorance equals incompetence.
If you hire people to work for you that will do these things behind your back, keeping secrets from you and committing illegal acts, you are an incompetent leader.
Sure every political leader has bad eggs working for them but these are his closest subordinates.
Hand picked? And he had no idea huh?
Societies that advance, which truly prosper, share an aversion to corruption.
Amen.
Unprecedented fraud crackdown’ announcement with DHS, DOJ.
Should be a few BIG names to appear?
Seems an odd announcement to be made by Duffy...so apparently it does cover just what the Transportation Department is responsible for...highways and I can’t think of anything else that would be involved with fraud...the FAA hasn’t been a subject of fraud, has it? Unlicensed foreign pilots, maybe? Seriously?
ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE A PRIORITY
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) began issuing aggressive repayment and rescission demands to hundreds of recipients under the pandemic-era Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program.
History of the SVOG ProgramCreation: Congress authorized the SVOG program under the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act in December 2020 and added extra funding through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
(https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46689), [2] (https://www.mccarter.com/insights/what-a-business-needs-to-know-about-the-shuttered-venue-operators-grant-program/)
Funding: The program provided a total of $16.25 billion in emergency relief for live venue operators, promoters, theatrical producers, live performing arts organizations, and movie theaters impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns.
(https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/07/02/sba-demands-svog-funds-return/),
(https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46689)
Rollout: Administered directly by the SBA, the application portal opened in April 2021 after initial technical delays and distributed grants worth up to 45% of an entity’s 2019 gross earned revenue, capped at $10 million.
(https://tcg.org/Web/Web/Take-Action/Access-Federal-Relief/Shuttered-Venue-Operators-Grant.aspx),
(https://www.mccarter.com/insights/what-a-business-needs-to-know-about-the-shuttered-venue-operators-grant-program/),
(https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46689)
Repayment Demands and ClawbacksSurprise Re-reviews: Beginning in mid-2025 and continuing into 2026, the SBA reversed prior eligibility approvals for hundreds of businesses, demanding full or partial grant repayments years after the funds were spent.
Treasury Referrals: The SBA escalated enforcement by referring unresolved, past-due SVOG debts—totaling millions of dollars—to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for active collection.
Industry Pushback: Affected venue operators and trade advocates have criticized the re-reviews as an unfair retroactive shift in standards for organizations that originally complied with all application and audit rules.
cont
cont
“Under the Biden Administration, the SVOG program became one of the biggest cash-grabs of the pandemic,” Loeffler said in a statement first obtained by Daily Wire. “For the last year, the Trump-SBA has been working to recoup funds meant for struggling small arts and entertainment businesses that ended up lining the pockets of celebrities, music artists, and elite talent agents.”
“Today’s $34 million referral to the Treasury Department is only the first one,” she added, saying the agency will continue using “every lawful tool to claw back unmerited SVOG payments.”
[snip]
Congress authorized $16.25 billion for the program, with individual applicants eligible for grants of up to $10 million.
But the program ultimately became a source of millions of dollars in federal aid for some of the entertainment industry’s wealthiest names. Business Insider previously reported that musicians including Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Marshmello, Steve Aoki, and members of Alice in Chains received millions of dollars through the program.
Lil Wayne’s touring company received an $8.9 million grant. Records reviewed by BusinessInsider showed that more than $1.3 million was spent on private-jet flights and more than $460,000 on clothing and accessories, while nearly $88K was charged to taxpayers for a concert the rapper did not ultimately perform.
Investigations found that entertainment corporations and touring companies controlled by major celebrities and musicians received over $200 million from Biden-era pandemic-fueled “Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG).”
High-Profile Recipients included:
Post Malone-—a solo artist, singer, rapper, and songwriter received
the maximum tax dollar grant of $10 million federal tax funds.
Chris Brown: Received $10 million through his touring company.
Steve Aoki: Received $9.9 million.
Lil Wayne: Received $8.9 million.
The Smashing Pumpkins: Received $8.6 million.
Korn: Received $5.3 million.
The Man: Received $2.25 million.
Nickelback: Received $2 million.
Celebrity Spending was atrocious: artists used tax dollars for private jets, luxury clothes and accessories, and on personal events like birthday parties.
Lil Wayne’s touring company received an $8.9 million grant w/ more than $1.3 million tax dollars spent on private-jet flights and more than $460,000 on clothing and accessories, while nearly $88K was charged to taxpayers for a concert the rapper did not ultimately perform.
Program Details and Controversy
SVOG was a Biden-era $14.5 billion Small Business Administration (SBA) initiative meant to support live entertainment.
Because tax dollar grants were awarded based on revenue drops rather than company size, high-profile touring acts who qualified legally received up to $10 million with no requirement to pay it back.
Despite widespread criticism from lawmakers calling it an abuse of federal resources, the SBA declined to claw back more than $155 million in grants distributed to these artists because the expenditures met the program’s legal definition for “ordinary and necessary” costs. However, the agency began referring remaining unresolved or improper SVOG debts totaling tens of millions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury for collection.
Laugh break:
Federal indictments and plea agreements indicate that former Biden-era Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra “was not aware of or involved in” the $225,000 fraud scheme involving his dormant campaign account.
(https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/14/becerra-governor-race-corruption/),
(https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYWRU8tketU/?hl=en)The
Federal prosecutors charged Becerra’s former aides—including Becerra’s former chief of staff Sean McCluskie and political strategist Dana Williamson—with siphoning $225,000 from an inactive state campaign account belonging to Becerra between 2022 and 2024.
McCluskie and Williamson both pleaded guilty to federal felony charges related to wire/bank fraud and filing false tax returns.
Court documents identify Becerra only anonymously as “Public Official 1” and explicitly state the indictment does not allege he knew about or participated in the illegal diversion of funds.
Becerra Expressed Shock: Becerra called the actions of his long-serving trusted advisors a “gut punch”. He stated that he relied on campaign attorneys to oversee routine payments and was completely unaware that funds were being siphoned behind the scenes. He voluntarily cooperated with the Department of Justice’s multi-year investigation, which began during his time at Biden’s HHS.
Becerra is now running for the Office of Governor of California.
FTA
The DOJ has also created a “National Fraud Enforcement Division” to
investigate and prosecute the theft and fraudulent misuse of tax dollars.
Duffy’s DOT has worked with DHS to crack down on alleged fraud
and safety violations in the commercial trucking industry, including:
<><>improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses,
<><>closing down fraudulent driving schools
<><>ousting unvetted foreigners driving big rigs on US roads.
Trump’s “2026 National Healthcare Fraud Takedown” resulted in :
<><>charges against 455 defendants
<><>over $6.5 billion in false claims,
<><>freezing and deferring billions in Medicaid payments
<><>Stopping fraud in California and Somali-ridden Minnesota over noncompliance.
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