by Ben Whedon
Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday announced that the government had identified $42 million in fraud linked to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since September.
“On September 1, we began a surge against SNAP fraud — and in seven weeks, we’ve uncovered $42M in SNAP fraud, or enough to feed 220,000 Americans for an entire month,” he said in a press conference.
SNAP receives just over $100 billion in federal funding per year, meaning the sum Blanche identified amounts to just under 0.5%.
The effort comes as part of an inter-agency crusade against public funds fraud led by Vice President JD Vance, whom Trump named his “fraud czar” earlier this year.
Vance appeared alongside Blanche for the press conference. Agency announcements of fraud crackdowns and criminal enforcement appear to have become more frequent in recent days, as the midterms enter their final stretch.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said, “Every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims: families in dire need and taxpayers. Today, we are reminding fraudsters that we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Thank you to USDA’s OIG and our state and federal partners for working with us to bring justice to families harmed by criminals. Under the Trump Administration, food stamp fraud ends now,” she added.
Colin McDonald, the DOJ’s national fraud enforcement division assistant attorney general, said the fraud scheme’s effect on humans “is not measured in spreadsheets, but in the panic of a mother whose card is declined and the hunger her children endure because someone hijacked their benefits.”
“These schemes inflict real harm on real American families, and they erode the trust taxpayers place in programs designed to keep Americans fed. That is why the Fraud Division is acting with urgency, not just to prosecute fraud, but to protect the people who depend on these lifelines,” McDonald explained.
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Todd Blanche” by DOJ.
