Treasury department launches fraud whistleblower program, tipsters could cash in big

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has officially launched a new anti-fraud whistleblower program.

The goal, recover hundreds of billions of dollars in stolen taxpayer funds and reward the tipsters who help the federal government find the money.

It's almost like a suitcase in an airport, if you see something say something," Bessent told Fox News Monday.

Managed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the program incentivizes whistleblowers with potentially huge paydays, upwards of 30% of what's collected, to help the federal government recover stolen taxpayer money. It targets fraud in Medicaid & Medicare, government relief programs, and Covid-era economic relief. Beyond standard fraud, it covers money laundering, sanctions violations and the bank secrecy act.

This is money that is not going where it's supposed to go but more importantly it's being stolen from the American taxpayer," said Bessent.

The administration is directing would-be tipsters to an online submission form to make a tip. Bessent said Monday, so far, the administration has received 700 leads.

This could be hundreds of billions of dollars in recouped money and again, the programs are supposed to go to those in need," Bessent said.

The program comes on the heels of the formation of the "Task Force to Eliminate Fraud," spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance. Plus, fraud investigations by independent journalists Nick Shirley and James O'Keefe, who recently released reports focusing on alleged hospice, daycare and election fraud happening in California.

President of the Capital Research Center, Scott Walter, told The National News Desk, offering between 10%-30% of what's collected is an enormous incentive.

There is no honor among thieves so it is entirely possible that you would have some thieves angry at other thieves and turning them in and then you would blow up the entire operation," Walter said.

But Walter said the administration could face some hurdles. Pointing to comments made by Bessent, who noted that while the fraud in Minnesota has made headlines, one reason it was identified was that the state has some transparency. Which isn't the case for other areas.

Secretary Bessent complained that in the case of New York and California it is opaque. So it is nearly impossible for anybody to discover such things," said Walter.

The program is being started as Democratic lawmakers continue to launch probes and formal inquiries into the Treasury Department. Most recently, whether or not Elon Musk influenced its decision to suspend the Corporate Transparency Act.