Vance touts LA arrests in fraud crackdown

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday touted a series of arrests in Los Angeles as part of a crackdown on hospice and healthcare fraud.

Our task force isn’t wasting any time cracking down on fraud," Vance posted on X.
"
This morning in the LA area, federal law enforcement is taking down fraudsters who stole $50M+ from Americans by defrauding our healthcare and hospice systems.

Thanks to [Dr. Mehmet Oz] and [U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli] for their work."

Last month, Trump tapped Vance to lead a national task force dedicated to eliminating public fraud, in the first major policy assignment of his tenure. The creation of the task force followed revelations of widespread public welfare fraud in Minnesota linked to the Minneapolis-area's Somali expat community.

The LA arrests included "11 defendants who engaged in fraud totaling more than $50 million," Essalyi said in a statement. The defendants are expected to appear in court Thursday afternoon.

In late January, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Dr. Mehmet Oz made headlines after he posted a video to social media documenting alleged public healthcare and hospice fraud in the Los Angeles area that he linked to the Armenian mafia.

The video produced a number of memes referencing Oz's Turkish heritage, though Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., accused him of racism.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.