Washington, D.C. — The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the creation of a new National Fraud Enforcement Division, a sweeping initiative that will dedicate teams of specialized prosecutors in every U.S. attorney’s office to combat healthcare fraud, tax scams, benefits fraud, and corporate schemes that drain taxpayer dollars.
The division, unveiled by Blanche, will embed 93 dedicated prosecutors in each of the nation’s U.S. attorney’s offices, dramatically expanding the department’s frontline capacity to investigate and prosecute fraud cases nationwide.
“American taxpayers deserve to know their money is protected from those who would steal it,” Blanche said in the announcement.
The new unit builds directly on recent high-profile victories, including a guilty plea in a $270 million Medi-Cal fraud scheme and more than $500 million in recoveries from healthcare and COVID-related fraud cases.
Blanche explicitly tied the new division to President Trump’s interagency task force on government waste, framing the effort as part of a broader push to root out inefficiency and fraud across federal programs.
Addressing critics who have accused the DOJ of politicization, Blanche pushed back firmly, noting the department’s record of indicting President Trump as proof that justice is applied without favoritism.
Reaction to the announcement split along familiar lines. Supporters praised the move as long-overdue accountability for taxpayer dollars, arguing it will deliver real results against sophisticated fraud networks. Critics, however, dismissed the initiative as a “loyalty play” designed to align the department with the administration’s priorities rather than pursue independent enforcement.
The National Fraud Enforcement Division is expected to begin operations immediately, with additional prosecutors already being assigned to offices across the country.
