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The Fraud Ledger

Documented fraud, embezzlement and misuse — federal, state and local — drawn only from Inspectors General, the Justice Department, GAO and court filings. Amounts appear only where the source document states them.

Entries on the record

This ledger is building. It opened with the entries below, each one fetched and checked against its primary source before it was listed. New entries are added as cases verify — never before. Charges are labelled as allegations; a case is called a conviction only when the record says so.

Criminal case · Conviction and sentence · U.S. Department of Justice / IRS Criminal Investigation

Feeding Our Future — $250 million child-nutrition fraud (Minnesota)

What happened
Aimee Bock, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, ran a scheme that recruited sham meal sites into the Federal Child Nutrition Program across Minnesota. The sites claimed to be serving thousands of children a day within days of forming, backed by fabricated meal counts and fake attendance rosters. Claims went to the Minnesota Department of Education, which disbursed the federal funds; Feeding Our Future kept more than $18 million in administrative fees it was not entitled to and collected bribes and kickbacks from sponsored sites. Proceeds bought luxury vehicles, real estate in Minnesota and international travel.
Amount — as stated by the source
A $250 million fraud scheme. Feeding Our Future fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds, growing from about $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021.
Agency / program
U.S. Department of Agriculture — Federal Child Nutrition Program, administered in Minnesota by the Minnesota Department of Education
Case status
Convicted at trial. Bock was sentenced on May 22, 2026 to 500 months in federal prison for her lead role. Related prosecutions from the same scheme continue.
How it affects Americans
This was money appropriated to feed children during the pandemic. Every dollar paid out on a fake meal roster was a dollar taken from a program American taxpayers funded for hungry kids — and the oversight failure sat with both the sponsor and the state agency passing the claims through.
Funding source
Federal appropriation — USDA child nutrition funds, drawn from general revenues and borrowing.

Criminal charges · Allegations, cases pending · U.S. Department of Justice

2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown — 324 defendants charged

What happened
The largest health care fraud takedown in DOJ history, coordinated across 50 federal districts and 12 state attorneys general. Charges cover schemes against Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs, including Operation Gold Rush — an alleged transnational operation that filed $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims for durable medical equipment and catheters using the stolen identities of more than one million Americans. Ninety-six of the defendants are doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists or other licensed medical professionals.
Amount — as stated by the source
More than $14.6 billion in intended loss alleged. More than $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency and other assets seized. Separately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported preventing more than $4 billion in false and fraudulent claims from being paid, and suspended or revoked billing privileges for 205 providers.
Agency / program
Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health programs — Department of Health and Human Services / CMS
Case status
Charges filed June 30, 2025. These are allegations: the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the cases are pending. Civil charges and settlements were announced alongside (20 defendants facing civil charges over $14.2 million; 106 defendants in civil settlements totalling $34.3 million).
How it affects Americans
Medicare is paid for by payroll taxes on every American paycheck and by premiums from seniors. Fraud at this scale is not a bookkeeping error — it drains the trust funds workers are paying into now for care they will need later.
Funding source
Medicare and Medicaid funds — payroll-tax-supported trust funds and general revenues.

Criminal case · Guilty plea and sentences · U.S. Department of Justice / SSA Office of Inspector General

Eric C. Conn — the largest Social Security disability fraud in SSA history

What happened
Kentucky disability lawyer Eric C. Conn ran a scheme from October 2004 to April 2016 with Social Security Administrative Law Judge David B. Daugherty and a team of doctors. Conn submitted thousands of falsified medical documents, Daugherty reassigned Conn's cases to himself and issued favourable decisions — in some months approving over 96 percent of them — and Conn paid the doctors to sign off on the evaluations. Conn received more than $7 million in representative fees from the SSA.
Amount — as stated by the source
The scheme obligated the Social Security Administration to pay more than $550 million in lifetime disability benefits. Restitution was ordered in excess of $106 million, with a further $72,574,609 ordered after his second sentencing.
Agency / program
Social Security Administration — disability insurance program
Case status
Pleaded guilty to theft of government money and paying gratuities. Sentenced in July 2017 to 12 years; he fled in June 2017, was captured in Honduras that December, and in September 2018 was sentenced to a further 15 years — 27 years in total.
How it affects Americans
Disability benefits are paid from payroll taxes withheld from American workers' wages. Fraudulent approvals put the program's finances — and the legitimacy of every honest claimant's case — at risk, and thousands of Conn's former clients had their benefits reviewed.
Funding source
Social Security trust funds — financed by the payroll tax on American workers and employers.

State-level case · Guilty pleas · U.S. Department of Justice / Mississippi Office of the State Auditor

Mississippi welfare scandal — TANF funds diverted through nonprofits

What happened
John Davis, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, directed federal welfare funds to two nonprofit organizations and then directed the nonprofits to award contracts for social services that were never provided, paying out in full or near-full at the start of the contract periods. Mississippi's forensic audit — the largest public fraud scheme in state history, per the State Auditor — traced the money into personal expenses and projects unconnected to welfare, including a university volleyball facility and payments for speeches the Auditor says were never given.
Amount — as stated by the source
The Mississippi State Auditor's forensic audit found at least $77 million in TANF funds misspent. The Justice Department's plea release describes millions of dollars in federal TANF and Emergency Food Assistance Program funds fraudulently obtained and misused.
Agency / program
Mississippi Department of Human Services — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
Case status
Davis pleaded guilty on September 22, 2022 to federal conspiracy and theft charges and to state charges, and was sentenced to 32 years on the state charges. Others in the scheme also pleaded guilty; related prosecutions followed.
How it affects Americans
TANF is the federal safety net for the poorest families in one of the poorest states in the country. Money routed to contracts for services never provided is money that never reached the families the program exists for.
Funding source
Federal appropriation — TANF block-grant funds sent to the state of Mississippi.

Audit finding · Not a criminal case · U.S. Government Accountability Office

GAO finding — $162 billion in improper federal payments, fiscal year 2024

What happened
This is a finding, not a prosecution: GAO reports the federal government's own estimate of improper payments — payments that should not have been made, or were made in the wrong amount, under statute and regulation. About 84 percent (roughly $135 billion) were overpayments. Roughly 75 percent of the total was concentrated in five program areas: Medicare, Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
Amount — as stated by the source
An estimated $162 billion in improper payments across 68 programs in 16 agencies for fiscal year 2024 — down about $74 billion from fiscal 2023. Cumulative estimated improper payments since fiscal 2003 total about $2.8 trillion.
Agency / program
Government-wide — 16 federal agencies, reported by GAO
Case status
GAO press release and report published March 11, 2025. An improper payment is not automatically fraud — it includes errors and payments lacking documentation — and GAO's figure is an estimate built from agency reporting. It is recorded here as what it is: the government's own measure of money paid out wrongly.
How it affects Americans
$162 billion is real money in a single year — collected in taxes or added to the national debt Americans service — paid out in the wrong amounts, to the wrong recipients, or without the documentation to show it was owed at all.
Funding source
All federal funding streams — appropriations, trust funds and fee-funded programs across the government.

Criminal case · Guilty plea and sentence · U.S. Department of Justice (W.D. Texas)

Pandemic relief fraud — Austin accountant sentenced over PPP and EIDL loans

What happened
Arun Mago, an Austin accountant, applied for and received several fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for several business entities between April and November 2021, then moved the money into his personal bank account and used it for real estate purchases. The same investigation found he had separately laundered $150,000 in cash he knew to be proceeds of cocaine distribution.
Amount — as stated by the source
Fraudulent PPP and EIDL loans totalling nearly $1 million.
Agency / program
U.S. Small Business Administration — Paycheck Protection Program and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program
Case status
Sentenced in federal court to 41 months in prison for money laundering and bank fraud (U.S. Attorney, Western District of Texas, October 2026).
How it affects Americans
PPP and EIDL money was appropriated to keep real small businesses and their employees afloat during the pandemic shutdowns. Loans taken on fabricated paperwork and spent on personal real estate came out of the same pot — and the bill sits with taxpayers.
Funding source
Federal appropriation — SBA pandemic-relief funds under the CARES Act-era programs, taxpayer-backed.

How an entry gets on this ledger

  • The case must exist in a primary record: an IG report, a DOJ filing or release, a GAO report, or a court filing.
  • The amount is copied from that record. If the record does not state an amount, the entry says so.
  • Status is stated as of the source document — charged, pleaded, convicted, sentenced, or still open.
  • Every entry carries its funding source and a plain-English line on what it means for Americans.