President Donald Trump announced Friday on Truth Social that Vice President JD Vance has been appointed to lead a massive federal crackdown on financial crimes, officially designating him the nation’s “Fraud Czar.”
The President stated that Vance will oversee efforts to root out what he described as “massive and pervasive” theft of taxpayer money, with a primary focus on Democratic-led states including California, Illinois, Minnesota, Maine, and New York. Trump suggested the scale of recovered funds could be large enough to “literally be able to balance our American Budget.”
The announcement coincided with a major law enforcement sweep in Los Angeles dubbed “Operation Never Say Die,” which federal officials described as a “seismic shift” in the fight against healthcare corruption.
Federal investigators and administration officials, including Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, detailed the unsealing of charges against 15 individuals in Southern California. The group is accused of orchestrating a $60 million scheme centered on “sham” hospice facilities.
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Prosecutors allege these businesses targeted healthy individuals, offering them $300 monthly kickbacks and free vitamins to pose as terminal patients. Dr. Oz noted the statistical impossibility of the situation in certain areas, pointing out that 42 different hospice licenses were found within just four blocks in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles.
“Nationwide, we have just over 6,000 hospices, so why would almost one-third of all the hospices in the whole country be in Los Angeles County?” Dr. Oz asked during a briefing. He claimed that these shell companies are often utilized by “transnational crime organizations” to bill Medicare for services that are never actually provided.
The arrests on Thursday spanned across Covina, Anaheim, and Glendale, targeting doctors, nurses, and even a psychologist. Among those charged were Gladwin and Amelou Gill, a husband-and-wife duo alleged to have used their daughter’s name to open a hospice and bill $5.2 million to bypass their own criminal histories.
Another defendant, Lolita Minerd, allegedly ran an Anaheim hospice with a “survival rate” of 85%, a figure far higher than any legitimate end-of-life facility. Nita Palma was also charged for allegedly operating three fraudulent hospices while she was already incarcerated in federal prison and out on bond for previous fraud charges.
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The political fallout from the crackdown has been immediate. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli criticized state leadership, labeling Governor Gavin Newsom the “King of Fraud” for what he described as a failure to vet suspicious providers or implement emergency regulations by the January 1, 2026, deadline.
Newsom has denied these claims, with a spokesperson stating the governor has already blocked $125 billion in fraud and oversaw numerous arrests. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald emphasized the gravity of the national problem, stating, “If you spent $1 million every single day, you would still be spending after 600 years to reach the $230 billion stolen from taxpayers annually.”
The number of suspended providers in Los Angeles has surged by 215% in just one week, rising from 70 to 221. As part of the new initiative led by Vance’s task force, Dr. Oz announced a “nationwide moratorium” on certain medical equipment and a plan to audit every single hospice in California by the end of the year.
The suspects currently in custody face maximum sentences of 10 years for healthcare fraud and up to 20 years for wire fraud. Trump ended his announcement by noting that raids had already begun in Los Angeles, signaling that the “Fraud Czar” initiative is already in active operation.
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