WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday launched a Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program offering cash rewards to people who uncover fraud in U.S. government programs, according to Reuters.
Speaking at an Oval Office event, Trump said tipsters would receive a 1 percent commission on money recovered, with no limit on how much a person could collect. “People will make millions of dollars by turning others in,” Trump said, according to USA Today. The Justice Department described the program differently, saying it would award $10,000 to $30,000 for tips that lead to criminal charges, that the Treasury Department is committing $25 million toward the program, and that awards would be issued in the department’s “sole discretion,” Reuters reported. A White House official said a tip must result in a successful prosecution or government enforcement action, while Trump said payment would be made “if we recover the money.” Zark News notes the two descriptions differ on the size and conditions of payments, and the White House pointed reporters to the president’s comments when asked to clarify.
The first recipient named under the initiative was Nick Shirley, a 24-year-old conservative online influencer whose viral video alleging fraud at some childcare centers in Minnesota was amplified by senior administration officials, according to Reuters. A White House official told media outlets Shirley would receive $10,000. Vice President JD Vance, who leads the president’s anti-fraud task force, said Shirley had “done more than anybody that I’ve met recently as a citizen journalist to uncover the fraud,” Reuters reported. “There’s never been an incentive for anyone to ever expose fraud,” Shirley said at the White House. “When you expose fraud, you help save America.”
The program builds on an anti-fraud initiative Trump set up earlier this year under Vance, who has traveled the country accusing Democrat-led states of doing too little to stop fraud in programs such as Medicaid, which provides health insurance for lower-income people, according to USA Today. Vance announced earlier this month that Microsoft and seven other companies were suspended from a program that allows businesses to seek permanent residency for foreign workers, accusing them of abusing the system, and Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said he is investigating alleged visa fraud at nine universities, USA Today reported.
The Minnesota claims behind Shirley’s video remain contested. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families disputed some of the claims as misleading and exaggerated, Reuters reported, while one Minneapolis woman whose childcare center Shirley profiled later pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Reuters said it was not immediately clear how Shirley was selected for the prize, and that the White House, Justice Department and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Why it matters: the launch lands less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Trump’s party is seeking to retain control of Congress. Tying cash rewards for fraud tips to the campaign-season anti-fraud drive makes the program both an enforcement tool and a central message of the administration’s closing argument to voters.
What happens next: the Justice Department is expected to issue the awards and handle tips under the program, and the differing descriptions of payment amounts — $10,000 to $30,000 per tip under the department’s account, versus an unlimited 1 percent commission under the president’s — will need to be reconciled in the program’s formal rules. Read the original Reuters report here.
