AG Blanche unveils federal charges against 160 defendants in pandemic relief sweep

The Justice Department has charged dozens of people for suspected fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday.

Speaking with reporters in the White House Rose Garden, Blanche said that between mid-June and September, federal prosecutors from across the country helped facilitate the arrests of 160 criminal defendants, including around 80 who were newly charged over suspected COVID fraud in Missouri and neighboring states.

The suspected crimes involved more than $245 million in losses, Blanche said.

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In addition, federal prosecutors in Southern California announced on Tuesday that 12 defendants operating at-home childcare facilities were charged with fraudulently collecting more than $10 million in government childcare payments, despite the operators having few or no children attending their facilities.

All 12 defendants were naturalized citizens from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and Somalia.

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“If you knowingly break the law, you will be held accountable,” Blanche said. 

Some of the defendants were allegedly not even in the U.S. when they allegedly submitted claims for childcare payments.

One defendant, Turkiya Alawad, 63, was found to be outside the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 30, 2024. However, they submitted and collected childcare payments for the dates she was not away, prosecutors said, according to The Associated Press.

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The alleged daycare fraud case in California is larger than the one involving Feeding Our Future, which submitted roughly $4.6 million in claims to the Child Care Assistance Program in Minnesota, according to The AP.

The Trump administration has prioritized investigating and prosecuting fraud and abuse of government programs.

Vice President JD Vance chairs the administration’s fraud task force, which has led to dozens of arrests by prosecutors nationwide.