Federal Agents Unleash First Coordinated Sweep Targeting $350 Million in Taxpayer Fraud

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson stated on Thursday that the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division has launched its first coordinated enforcement sweep, targeting taxpayer-funded fraud schemes with 17 cases across seven Southeastern states involving more than $350 million in alleged losses.

The division announced the action at a roundtable in Columbia, South Carolina, as part of a nationwide effort to address patterns of fraud that have persisted for years when perpetrators “felt unencumbered” in stealing from public programs. Wilson and Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald described the cases targeting identical fraudulent schemes prosecutors encounter across the country, including violations of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Small Business Administration loans, housing benefits, and tax systems.

Since July 4, federal prosecutors have charged 12 defendants in schemes resulting in over $90 million in losses. McDonald noted that fraud rings increasingly involve individuals who may be in the country illegally, referencing a Boston case where 15 people allegedly used stolen identities to defraud federal programs. He emphasized the division’s use of data analytics to identify suspects “who’ve never even set foot in America.”

Wilson highlighted cross-jurisdictional cooperation as critical to success, citing recent work with North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general that uncovered $20 million in Medicaid fraud during Operation Border Wars. “We had to cross geographic lines. We had to cross jurisdictional lines,” he said. “We had to cross partisan lines.”

In Florida, Daniel Liburdi agreed to forfeit three properties in Miami Beach and the U.S. Virgin Islands, two Ferraris, a Range Rover, and more than $400,000 from financial accounts after pleading guilty to filing a false tax return and agreeing to pay over $34.8 million in restitution.

Wilson stated that years of impunity are now ending: “For years, they have felt unencumbered. They have felt unpoliced. And now that is changing.” The division also announced data-sharing agreements with the seven states and new anti-fraud task forces in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida to access state corporate registration and public benefits payment data. McDonald added that the government has “historically been late to the game” against fraud rings using newer technologies, stressing the need for interagency collaboration.