Vance anti-fraud task force suspends 447 hospices in Los Angeles over more than $600M in suspected fraud
FIRST ON FOX: The anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance has suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies suspected of fraud in Los Angeles, with a total fraud estimate of more than $600 million.
The number of suspensions is roughly a 539% increase from the 70 reported by Fox News Digital at the beginning of April.
"Where there is fraud, the task force will find it," a spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital. "We will not stop until every hard-earned taxpayer dollar goes toward the honest Americans who deserve them."
A White House official doubled down on Vance and the task force’s commitment to root out fraud, and sent a stark warning to those suspected of fraudulent activity.
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"To all fraudsters: good luck trying to hide from the Vice President's task force," the White House official told Fox News Digital. "[The anti-fraud task force is] reviewing and pursuing every possible lead. These suspension numbers, and the dollar values saved, are only going to increase."
The rising numbers add to the $259.5 million in Medicaid funds to Minnesota that Vance and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced plans to block in February.
The move followed Gov. Tim Walz’s January decision not to seek a third term, made amid growing scrutiny of fraud in state programs.
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The dramatic increase in suspected fraud and the more than half-billion in potential fraudulent activity is revealed by the anti-fraud task force as Democratic legislators in California are advancing a bill that would impose steep fines and potentially criminal charges for exposing information about immigrant service workers.
Nick Shirley, an independent journalist who is known for exposing the Quality "Learing" Center and various other fraudulent healthcare centers largely owned and operated by Somali immigrants in Minnesota, lashed out at the bill, as he has recently set his sights on exposing fraud in California.
"California is trying to pass a bill that would criminalize investigative journalism with misdemeanors, $10,000 fines, imprisonment, and content takedown," Shirley posted to X. "The proposed bill is titled AB 2624 and was made after I exposed mass fraud by immigrant groups in America."
"Under AB 2624, government-funded entities like the Somali ‘Learing’ Daycare centers would be protected from being exposed if they operated inside California," Shirley added. "The enemy truly is within. When our politicians would rather protect fraudsters and illegal migrants, it’s time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who ‘rule’ over us."
The bill has already passed through one committee in the California assembly in an 11-2 vote.
AB 2624 was introduced by Democratic assemblywoman Mia Bonta, who is the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
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The bill’s official title states it is intended for the "privacy for immigration support services providers," though GOP critics have dubbed the legislation the "Nick Shirley Act" after Shirley’s engagement with suspected fraud in California.
"This bill expands the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program to allow designated immigration support services providers, employees, and volunteers who have experienced harm or threats of violence because of their work with immigrants to register allowing them to keep their addresses out of public records," the California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection committee hearing synopsis describes the legislation.
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The California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection is chaired by Assemblywoman Bonta.
Bonta has argued that "doxxing" businesses "isn’t journalism" and told KSBW8 that "this is a time when we absolutely need to make sure that people are able to be protected as they seek to do the good work to protect our immigrant communities."
Republican California Assemblyman Carl DeMaio blasted the bill, saying it attempts to "intimidate" journalists.
"California Democrats are trying to intimidate citizen watchdog journalists and protect waste and fraud happening in far-Left-wing NGOs," DeMaio said in a statement. "AB 2624 can only be described as the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ — a bill designed to silence citizen journalists exposing fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars."
"Instead of fixing the fraud problems being uncovered, Sacramento politicians are trying to shut down the people exposing them," DeMaio added. "AB 2624 would allow activists and taxpayer-funded organizations to demand the removal of video evidence — even if it captures misconduct in plain view — and threatens journalists with massive financial penalties."
Fox News Digital reached out to both Mia and Rob Bonta, Shirley and DeMaio but did not receive responses in time for publication.