TOP 35 WEEKLY FRAUD ANNOUNCEMENTS
October 26 - 30, 2026

1. Operation Ghostbusters: Five defendants charged in a “ghost student” scheme using stolen identities to obtain federal student aid; more than $32 million in related losses was identified and over $750,000 in crypto from Kenya was seized.
2. Minnesota Fraud: Seven defendants charged with health care fraud or benefits fraud in schemes involving over $29M in newly discovered fraud.
3. A doctor in California was sentenced to 15 years for fraudulently billing Medicare more than $45 million for medically unnecessary or nonexistent Botox injections; over $16 million was forfeited.
4. A defendant in Minnesota was sentenced to 360 months for his role in the $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme after facilitating more than $44 million in fraudulent federal child-nutrition proceeds.
5. A defendant in Minnesota was sentenced to 78 months and fined $40,000 for his role in attempting to bribe a juror with $200,000 cash during the defendant's fraud trial.
6. Six tax preparers were indicted for allegedly filing more than 9,000 fraudulent returns seeking over $177 million in refunds, approximately $81 million of which was issued.
7. An Indian national pleaded guilty to using stolen Medicare identities to submit $227 million in claims for undelivered COVID-19 test kits; Medicare paid approximately $136 million.
8. Two supervisors of a Ghana-based romance-scam and business-email-compromise organization pleaded guilty in a conspiracy that stole and laundered more than $100 million from dozens of victims.
9. Guilty pleas in $65 million multinational fraud and money-laundering operation that targeted thousands of elderly victims; 25 defendants have been charged.
10. A safety inspector received 30 months in prison for fabricating hundreds of gas-pipeline tests, causing more than $64 million in remediation costs and creating risks of leaks and explosions.
11. A mental-health provider’s co-owner was arrested and charged with submitting more than $49 million in allegedly fraudulent Medicaid claims for crisis services.
12. A coordinated pandemic-fraud initiative announced criminal actions involving approximately $26.9 million in alleged SBA losses, alongside civil recoveries, as part of a broader $34 million enforcement effort.
13. Six Africa-based defendants were charged in fraudulent cryptocurrency and NFT investment schemes linked to transnational criminal organizations; related enforcement restrained more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency.
14. Three defendants received prison terms of 84, 30, and 24 months for a government-imposter scheme that stole more than $10 million from over 50 victims in 19 states.
15. A personal assistant was sentenced to 48 months for stealing nearly $10 million from elderly employers and was ordered to forfeit $9.6 million.
16. Three defendants pleaded guilty to operating international romance scams that caused mostly older victims in 25 states and three countries to lose more than $9 million.
17. A former accountant was sentenced to 63 months for stealing more than $8.2 million through bogus accessory-dwelling-unit investments and was ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture.
18. A durable-medical-equipment operator was convicted at trial in an $8.6 million Medicare scheme involving forged prescriptions and unwanted or medically unnecessary orthotic braces.
19. A business owner pleaded guilty to laundering money after embezzling more than $7.8 million from a federally funded rural broadband project and transferring proceeds into cryptocurrency accounts.
20. A man was sentenced to five years for using stolen identities belonging to more than 150 people to obtain approximately $2.8 million in pandemic unemployment benefits.
21. A money launderer was sentenced to eight years and ordered to pay approximately $2.4 million for facilitating tech-support and government-imposter scams targeting elderly victims.
22. A former procurement official pleaded guilty to bribery and honest-services wire fraud for steering contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for nearly $183,000 in payments to a relative.
23. A fugitive charged with laundering millions from romance, sweepstakes, rental, and shipping scams targeting elderly victims was arrested while reentering the United States and ordered detained.
24. A Jamaican national was extradited to face a 29-count indictment alleging lottery fraud and money laundering involving victims told to prepay taxes and fees for fictitious prizes.
25. An accountant was sentenced to 41 months for bank fraud and money laundering after fraudulently obtaining nearly $1 million in pandemic loans and laundering $150,000 in drug proceeds.
26. A business owner pleaded guilty to fraudulently receiving more than $890,000 through PPP and EIDL applications after seeking over $1.2 million and using proceeds for personal expenses, stocks, and cryptocurrency.
27. A woman pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after fraudulently obtaining more than $618,000 in PPP and EIDL funds through fabricated tax records and fictitious employment data.
28. Eleven defendants were indicted in a 21-count conspiracy alleging more than $400,000 in fraudulent PPP loans obtained with false tax forms and inflated or nonexistent business income.
29. A fraudulent-document marketplace operator was sentenced to 27 months and ordered to pay $386k after fake records supplied through his websites supported more than $380,000 in fraudulent pandemic loans.
30. A pharmacist was sentenced to 90 months for illegally dispensing at least 335,351 high-dose oxycodone pills to customers without a medical need, often at approximately 10 times the typical price.
31. Two defendants pleaded guilty to using 23 fraudulent applications and fake leases to steal more than $187,000 from a pandemic emergency-rental-assistance program.
32. A community support worker was indicted on 38 fraud and theft counts for allegedly billing over $109,000 for Medicaid services that were not provided.
33. A forged-check scheme leader received five years in prison, a co-defendant received 27 months, and eight participants were ordered to pay combined restitution of $115,936.05.
34. The final defendant in an interstate bank-fraud and identity-theft conspiracy was sentenced to 42 months for a scheme involving $91,300 in loss.
35. A woman was sentenced to 24 months and ordered to pay $150,590 for passing a stolen and falsely endorsed U.S. Treasury check.

All in support of @POTUS and @VP's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud (@WHFraudTF).