Free Republic

Over 7,700 suspected "ghost students" have now been flagged in the Minnesota public education system. This comes as the federal government is working to crack down on fraudsters and scammers across the nation. Scammers known as "ghost students" enroll in colleges, claim financial aid, then disappear with taxpayer funds, and the Minnesota State system, which has 33 colleges and universities, has now identified over 7,700 in the 2024-2025 school year in the public university system. The Minnesota education system was recently given $3 million to verify students as well as identify scammers. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon has previously...

A new report from the nonpartisan State of the Nation Project lists New Mexico near the bottom of national rankings for education, shootings, youth depression and a number of other factors that impact life satisfaction. The organization produced the State of the States report, which gives in-depth scorecards to each of the 50 states and Washington D.C. ... A board of academics and advisers to the last five presidents created a list of 31 measures — ranging from youth depression, air quality and income inequality to social isolation, life expectancy and young adults employed or in school — and quantified...

Dear Senator Warren,When I watched your recent video on X about Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire, I found myself in the unusual position of agreeing with you—at least in part. That is not a sentence I write often.You see…you are correct that something has gone profoundly wrong in an economy that can produce a trillionaire. You are correct that the gap between the financial elite and ordinary Americans has become so vast that most people can barely comprehend it. And you are correct that millions of Americans increasingly feel as though the economy is rigged in favor of...

I wrote about Jimmy Kimmel's monologue earlier but that was just the first fruits of a bumper crop of left-wing hate. Everyone on the left is now offering Elon advice on how to spend his money (money which he literally can't spend) and quite a few people are just demonizing him as evil for being rich. I anticipated all of this yesterday but I might as well document some of it for posterity here. Rep. Jayapal called the news "total bulls**t" and called for a wealth tax. Imagine if Elon Musk did something to benefit others with his trillion.— Amy...

Mahender Makhijani, 44, a lawful permanent resident from India residing in the upscale enclave of Corona del Mar, was arrested this morning on a federal criminal complaint charging him with bank fraud. Makhijani controlled Cantor Group V LLC, a Newport Beach-based outfit that had a lending deal with a federally insured bank. Under the agreement, the bank advanced nearly $100 million so Cantor could originate or purchase real estate loans, but only first-lien loans where Cantor held the top position on the collateral. Instead of playing straight, Makhijani and a subordinate spent months from September 2024 through April 2025 systematically...

In the end, the most appalling thing about the ballooning US social-services fraud scandals is the eager collusion of state officials in robbing the public by the billions — with Minnesota the early prime example. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday asked the Justice Department to investigate and perhaps prosecute Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and other high officials over the evidence laid out in a devastating House Oversight Committee report on benefit fraud in Minnesota. The committee documented how more than 30 whistleblowers tried to sound the alarm on fraud, only to be silenced by the Democrats...

FRISCO, Texas - A Texas couple was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years each in federal prison for operating a fraudulent chain-referral pyramid scheme that prosecutors said cheated more than 10,000 people nationwide out of more than $30 million during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID scheme What we know: LaShonda Moore, 38, and Marlon Moore, 39, of Frisco, were convicted by a jury in January 2026 on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from their operation of "Blessings in No Time," or BINT, an illegal pyramid scheme that ran from June 2020 to June 2021. According to court documents and...

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is investigating what happened to $30 million it sent to a Muslim nonprofit to help resettle Afghan refugees in the US, The Post has learned. The department is the latest to look into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) amid accusations it has ties to dangerous groups in foreign nations including terror group Hamas. In letters to the governors of California and Washington, where the $30 million was sent, HHS — headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — claims it has received information that “raises concerns about the business practices and...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about widespread taxpayer fraud in the state's welfare programs as early as spring 2019, but took no action and instead the state retaliated against workers who tried to expose the abuses, a bombshell congressional report released Monday concluded. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee referred its findings from a months-long probe into $9 billion-plus in fraud schemes in Minnesota to Vice President JD Vance, raising serious concerns Democrats in the state turned a blind eye to the taxpayer losses because they feared "political retribution from the politically active Somali community,"...

For many Americans, retirement represents decades of hard work, disciplined saving, and careful financial planning. Unfortunately, a growing wave of sophisticated scams is threatening that financial security, and the losses are reaching record levels. According to newly released FBI data, Americans aged 60 and older reported losing an astonishing $7.7 billion to internet fraud in 2025. That figure marks a significant increase from the previous year and highlights a troubling reality: scammers are increasingly targeting retirees, often with devastating financial consequences.For investors and retirees alike, protecting savings is no longer just about managing market risk. It is also about recognizing...

The UK is on the edge of losing its culture and heritage, aided by a compliant government. The US is nearing the precipice as well. America has long been a welcoming host to immigrants, believing that those coming to these shores were seeking a better life and opportunity and were willing to become part of the American tapestry. Although the starts were rough, the Irish and Italians came and did assimilate to become part of the American culture, seeing themselves as Americans first. It was true for my grandparents as well. Despite not being able to speak much English they...

A yoga pants stealing thief is still on the loose in San Francisco after they were able to escape the scene of a crime using a self-driving Waymo vehicle, police said. The suspect was able to make off with loads of stolen merchandise from the Hot 8 Yoga Studio in the Marina back in January. They were then able to flee the scene in a driverless white Jaguar that was parked out front, per the San Francisco Chronicle. Police are calling it the first-of-its-kind heist for the city after the suspect turned the high-tech vehicle in to a getaway car....

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (FOX26) — A woman was arrested after an investigation near an orchard revealed stolen fruit and drug paraphernalia on Tuesday, deputies say. A Fresno County Deputy was on patrol in the area between Kingsburg and Parlier, noticed a car pulling out of a nectarine orchard near the intersection of Zediker and Rose avenues around 2 a.m. The deputy stopped the car and contacted the driver, 40-year-old Zulema Garcia Cruz. Garcia Cruz was arrested for having outstanding warrants for drug possession and petty theft. During a further search of the orchard, the deputy found a pickup truck with...

As you are probably aware, in most circumstances and for most categories of handouts, illegal immigrants in the United States do not qualify for welfare benefits. As I’m using it here, the term “welfare” does not include Social Security or Medicare, which are not restricted by income status; but the term “welfare” does include all of the large number of what are called “means-tested” programs, which in the aggregate consume nearly $1 trillion annually of federal spending (and well over $1 trillion if state contributions are included). The biggest of the “means tested” programs are Medicaid, SNAP (“food stamps”), and...

In this difficult economy, when families across America are struggling to cover rising costs for food, housing, and medical care, every tax dollar must be protected. President Donald J. Trump is showing strong leadership by taking direct action to stop the massive waste and theft that has drained safety-net programs for too long. His creation of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud represents real commitment to making government work efficiently for American citizens. On March 16, Trump signed an executive order that established this task force. Vice President J.D. Vance chairs it, the Federal Trade Commission chairman serves as vice...

About a year ago at Erlanger Baroness, the largest hospital in Chattanooga, anesthesia staff noticed that a nurse was slurring his words and struggling to stay awake while on duty in the surgery center, according to a Tennessee Board of Nursing consent order. In the days that followed, the nurse failed a drug test and was fired, the order states. The nurse later admitted that for months he had pilfered and abused fentanyl left over after surgeries, sometimes daily, according to the order. Under most circumstances, this would be a routine case of what is known as "drug diversion," the...

A Detroit federal judge on Thursday ordered Comerica Bank to turn over $13,167 to the federal government to help pay down the $823,649 he still owes in restitution from his 2013 public corruption case. U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III rejected Kilpatrick's argument that the money was in his wife's business account, Pathfinder Consulting Firm, LLC, and therefore did not belong to him. Prosecutors argued they were entitled to garnish the funds to help pay Kilpatrick's restitution. In issuing his written ruling, the judge wrote that Kilpatrick failed to properly request a hearing, as required by law, and failed...

In 2024, California voters approved Proposition 36 by majorities in every one of the state's 58 counties. This proposition boosted penalties for repeat offenders of smash-and-grab thefts, organized retail crime, and open drug dealing. Assemblywoman LaShae Sharp-Collins (D-district 79) felt that "making repeated retail thefts a felony is too harsh. Such thefts are an inevitable outcome in a society where poor people lack the money needed to legally acquire the things they need or want. Shoplifting is a relatively peaceful way of overcoming the deprivation of not having a job or the income to afford stuff. Rather than trying to...

(The Center Square) — A federal judge has overturned a New Hampshire law that required unregistered voters to provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in state elections. The ruling late Thursday by U.S. District Court judge Samantha Elliott sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who sued to block the law, saying the requirement for new voters to provide a birth certificate or valid U.S. passport to cast a ballot on election day was unconstitutional. “New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,"...

Vice President J.D. Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud has taken a number of actions to tackle fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the months since its establishment. From Operation Cold SNAP, in which multiple government agencies coordinated to execute warrants on SNAP retailers in Minnesota, to the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) probe into millions of allegedly fraudulent payments to dead people in Puerto Rico, and indictments secured by the Department of Justice, the federal government has taken a variety of actions to root out fraud in the food assistance program. “Every day, the Trump...