Six billion dollars. That’s billion — with a B. The kind of number that makes your eyes water and your blood pressure spike. And according to a new report, that’s roughly how much taxpayer money may have been siphoned off by fraudulent businesses holding government contracts. The man pulling back the curtain? Vice President JD Vance.
Trump tapped Vance to lead a nationwide anti-fraud task force earlier this year, and the results are already rolling in like a dumpster fire caught on camera. Vance’s team, working alongside the General Services Administration, has identified 895 contracts awarded to 392 businesses — totaling $6.3 billion — that may be completely bogus. Another $3 billion in payments hasn’t even gone out yet, which means the task force may have caught this fraud train before it left the station entirely.
And here’s where it gets stupid. These businesses will now have 30 days to prove they actually exist. That’s right — prove you have a real building, with real people, doing real work. The fact that this wasn’t required before handing over billions should tell you everything about how Washington operated under the last administration.
The Minnesota Mess That Started It All
If you’re wondering what lit the fuse on this whole operation, look no further than Minnesota — the land of ten thousand lakes and apparently ten thousand scams. Multiple day care centers, many run by Somali immigrants, were found to have zero children enrolled while raking in massive quantities of taxpayer cash. Ghost daycares. Phantom kids. Real money. Your money.
The Department of Justice estimated that several billion dollars were stolen by phony organizations in Minnesota alone. Trump didn’t mince words about it in a February speech:
“There’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. We have all the information and, in actuality, the number is much higher than that.”
Trump’s executive order creating the task force laid out the rot in plain English: “Federal prosecutors in the State estimate that Medicaid fraud in recent years could total in the billions. Nearly 9 percent of the roughly $866 million spent on food stamps in Minnesota each year is estimated to be spent in error.”
Nine percent. Just casually lighting one out of every eleven food stamp dollars on fire.
The Biden Administration’s Gift That Keeps on Taking
Here’s the kicker that surprises absolutely nobody: the majority of these suspect contracts were awarded under the Biden administration. A senior White House official put it bluntly:
“The fact that these taxpayer dollars went out without verifying if the contractors and vendors were even real or lawful businesses is a disgrace and yet another example of how the previous administration flouted basic anti-fraud guardrails.”
Flouted is a generous word. They didn’t just ignore the guardrails — they removed them, put up a “Free Money” sign, and went on vacation.
A spokesperson for Vance made it clear the gloves are off: “The task force will leave no stone unturned in the hunt for fraud. If fraudsters are robbing hardworking Americans of their tax dollars and services, we will find them.”
The Minnesota Democrats in the Crosshairs
The task force is also zeroing in on some familiar faces. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is a main target for alleged immigration fraud, and she’s got company — Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were hauled before Congress in March to explain what they knew and when they knew it.
Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a fellow Minnesotan, didn’t hold back on Ellison:
“Mr. Ellison, my concern is that you actively obstructed this investigation in exchange for campaign donations — a quid pro quo. If these concerns are proven to be true, you should be disbarred, and you should go to jail.”
Then there’s Walz and the Feeding Our Future fiasco. Rep. Jim Jordan pressed the former vice-presidential nominee on a program that went from $3 million to $200 million faster than you can say “whistleblower ignored.” Jordan pointed out that payments were stopped after red flags went up — then mysteriously restarted a month later.
“Why didn’t you just tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?”
Walz blamed a court order. One problem: the Minnesota judicial branch confirmed no such order was ever issued.
Jordan didn’t let that slide: “Well, somebody’s lying! You can’t say the court ordered you to restart the payments, and then the court says, ‘We didn’t order you to restart the payments.’ So either you’re lying, or the court’s lying. And I’m just asking you, which one is it?”
Walz called it a “misinterpretation.” Jordan called it what it probably was — fear of political backlash from the Somali community.
The Bulldozer Approach
Trump didn’t tiptoe around this mess. He built a task force, handed it to his VP, and said go find the rats. Vance met with his anti-fraud team for the first time on March 27, and they’ve already uncovered $6.3 billion worth of suspicious contracts. That’s not a slow start — that’s a freight train.
The swamp spent years treating the federal treasury like an unattended buffet. Now there’s a bouncer at the door, and he’s checking IDs. The fraudsters had a good run. It’s over.
