The U.S. Department of the Treasury plans to launch a new whistleblower program Monday that would pay tipsters up to 30% of recovered funds tied to large-scale financial fraud, according to reporting from the New York Post.
The program targets major fraud schemes involving federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, where losses reach tens of billions of dollars each year.
Under the plan, individuals who provide information that leads to enforcement actions with more than $1 million in penalties could receive between 10% and 30% of recovered funds. The government will pay awards directly from fines collected from offenders, not taxpayer dollars.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to announce the program as part of a broader push to combat widespread abuse of government benefits programs.
The program mirrors an existing Internal Revenue Service whistleblower system, which pays individuals between 15% and 30% of funds recovered when their information leads to successful enforcement actions, according to the agency.
Federal officials have increasingly targeted large, organized fraud operations that use shell companies, stolen identities, and international financial networks to siphon money from federal programs. Investigators say these schemes often involve billing for services that were never provided or inflating claims to increase payouts.
Authorities also warn that fraud proceeds frequently move overseas through wire transfers, cryptocurrency transactions, and other methods that complicate recovery efforts.
The announcement follows a series of enforcement actions targeting fraud networks tied to Minnesota, where federal officials say criminals have stolen billions of dollars from public assistance programs in recent years.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Treasury Department expanded investigations and reporting requirements in the state, including new financial monitoring rules designed to track suspicious transactions and disrupt fraud pipelines, while separate whistleblower testimony has also raised concerns about oversight failures in state-run assistance programs.
The new whistleblower program signals a shift toward using insiders and financial incentives to identify and dismantle complex fraud operations that span multiple states and international networks.
The effort aims to increase accountability, recover stolen funds, and protect taxpayer dollars from large-scale abuse.
