President Donald Trump announced Friday morning that Vice President JD Vance has been formally named as the administration’s lead man on fraud – dubbing him the “Fraud Czar.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social that he will be directing his attention squarely at “those Blue States where CROOKED DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS, like those in California, Illinois, Minnesota (Somalia beware!), Maine, New York, and many others, have had a ‘free for all’ in the unprecedented theft of taxpayer money.”
“The numbers are so large that, if successful, we would literally be able to balance our American Budget,” Trump added.
In January, Trump created a new division within the Department of Justice specifically targeting nationwide fraud schemes. At the time, the White House announced a major federal crackdown on fraud in Minnesota specifically, and the DOJ had already charged 98 people in the state, resulting in 64 convictions.
Minnesota has been ground zero for the administration’s fight against fraud over the past year or so. A 2025 investigation into more schemes in the windy city uncovered millions in stolen taxpayer dollars routed through hawala networks to Somalia and even reaching the terror group al-Shabaab. The Feeding Our Future scandal alone involved more than $250 million in pandemic-era funds intended to feed children, just gone with the wind.
A group claiming to represent more than 480 Minnesota Department of Human Services employees accused Gov. Tim Walz of ignoring repeated fraud warnings and retaliating against whistleblowers, going as far as to say that he was “100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota.”
Trump’s post on Friday took another direct shot at Minnesota’s mass fraud schemes specifically tied to the Somali community, writing, “Somalia beware!” Something that Vance has backed up. The VP recently accused Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) of immigration fraud and said that she was “definitely” connected to fraudulent activity within Minnesota’s Somali community during an appearance on the Benny Johnson podcast.
“Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America. She has been at the center of a lot of the worst fraudsters at the center of the Somali community,” Vance said.
Omar’s team responded, in an email statement obtained by Fox News, writing, “This is a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract from the pedophile protection party’s unpopular war of choice, increasing gas prices, and rapidly dropping polling numbers.”
However, Omar and her husband, Timothy Mynett, have come under scrutiny over their independent financial records, not just her district’s. Some seemingly sketchy companies tied to them have skyrocketed in value in a very short time. House Oversight Chairman James Comer is even demanding financial records from two companies tied to Mynett, after their reported value jumped from about $51,000 to as much as $30 million in just one year, as previously reported by DX.
The companies are eStCru LLC (a California winery with very little public activity or online footprint) and Rose Lake Capital (an investment firm). Both of which showed massive increases in Omar’s financial disclosures, raising questions about the source of the sudden growth in such a short time.
Vance had previously hinted that California was next, telling reporters that fraud uncovered in the Minneapolis area had totaled “probably $19 billion at least,” and saying the administration knew “there’s a lot of fraud in California.”
Vance announced Thursday that federal law enforcement had already moved on the ground in Los Angeles. In what the administration dubbed “Operation Never Say Die,” agents executed arrests and search warrants targeting hospice and healthcare fraud, with 8 people now facing charges in a scheme totaling more than $50 million in losses to taxpayers. A total of 221 hospice and home health providers in Los Angeles have already been suspended so far due to suspected fraud in “The Golden State,” per Fox News.