Treasury uncovers $17.5B in healthcare fraud schemes

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently identified $17.5 billion reportedly linked to healthcare fraud, according to a Sept. 9 communique. FinCEN found more than 5,700 Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reports filed over a one-year period flagging suspicious activity likely tied to healthcare fraud, allowing federal law enforcement to identify and disrupt illegal activity.

The schemes believed to have been discovered spanned state and federal programs as well as private insurance, with likely fraudulent Medicaid payments originating from state-run programs and Medicare payments largely originating from Medicare Administrative Contractors, private health insurance companies that contract with the federal government.

As with many other healthcare fraud schemes identified by the Trump administration, the vast majority of likely fraudulent programs FinCEN identified were home health care programs, with some likely involved in larger criminal enterprises and fraud rings.

The suspected ill-gotten funds were used to fund personal spending, luxury purchases, and overseas transfers, the Treasury Department averred.

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“By identifying and reporting this suspicious activity, financial institutions have given law enforcement critical insight into the illicit actors who deliberately exploit U.S. health care benefits programs,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement. “Treasury will continue working alongside our law enforcement partners to disrupt fraud wherever it occurs, protect Americans, and safeguard the integrity of taxpayer-funded programs.”

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been quick to prosecute fraudsters identified by federal investigators, securing three convictions this week in federal court in Virginia.

According to the DOJ, twin sisters E'mon and Armone' Ambers and Traquan Brown ran a Medicaid fraud scheme defrauding $11 million in taxpayer funds. The Ambers sisters were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, payment of kickbacks, and transactional money laundering and face a combined total of up to 134 years in prison, while Brown was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud and faces up to 10 years in prison.

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In August, the White House launched a fraud ledger, as Zeale News reported at the time. The online ledger tracks the scale of fraud identified by the Trump administration, as well as administration actions to identify, prevent, and recover fraud and prosecute fraudsters.

According to the ledger, the Trump administration has identified $245.7 billion in fraud since January 2025 and has prevented nearly $63 billion in fraud over the same period.