California attorney general cites success in tackling fraud

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Editor's note: This story has been updated since its original publication to include a comment from the White House.

(The Center Square) – California has recovered nearly $2.7 billion in taxpayers’ money since 2016 through fraud investigations, lawsuits and persecutions, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday.

Bonta cited that number and other figures during a Los Angeles press conference, where he responded to President Donald Trump forming a task force targeting fraud in the Golden State. Bonta said the California Department of Justice is working diligently to attack fraud, including that related to Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid. He added the state has and will continue to work with the federal government on apprehending fraudsters.

Of the $2.7 billion recovered, almost $2 billion was retrieved under the state’s False Claims Act, Bonta said. 

Nearly $740 million in Medi-Cal fraud was recovered through criminal prosecutions, he said.

And over $108 million was retrieved by the state DOJ’s Tax Recovery in Underground Economy task force, Bonta said.

Since 2016, state has conducted 2,490 criminal investigations and 1,121 civil investigations, the attorney general said. Fraud-related charges have been filed against 958 people.

Specifically, the California Department of Justice has tackled fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioral health, and recycling, as well as going after tax evaders, Bonta said.

He cited cases such as apprehending a Riverside County restaurant owner who didn’t report $9 million in taxable sales and pocketed more than $1 million in taxes.

“We know unfortunately that Trump is out there falsely claiming California is somehow the problem, saying baselessly that California programs and public servants are perpetuating fraud, when in reality, we are the victims of fraud. We need to get that straight,” Bonta said.

There are fraudsters in California and other states, both blue and red, Bonta said. He cited fraud cases in the Republican-dominated states such as Texas, Florida and Ohio.

“To claim this is a California problem or blue state problem is just fiction,” Bonta said. “It is a figment of President Trump’s imagination.”

“No state is immune from bad actors,” Bonta said.

“California DOJ has been going after bad actors, long before Trump tried to weaponize the words ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’” Bonta said.

California’s programs are helping low-income individuals and families get food and health care, while the Trump administration and the president’s tariffs make life less affordable, Bonta said.

The Center Square reached out Thursday to the White House for comment.

“The Trump Administration remains committed to stopping fraud, and the President’s only motivation is protecting the American people from nefarious fraudsters who seek to steal and exploit," White House spokeswoman Abigail T. Jackson told The Center Square in an email. "And the Administration’s efforts have already been fruitful – with ongoing investigations and important actions to ensure American dollars aren’t being stolen. This is a common sense measure that everyone should support, regardless of your political affiliation."

In California, one legislator said he would like the state to take a comprehensive approach, similar to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, in tackling fraud, waste and abuse.

“I think they should put together a strong group of oversight folks to look at every department to make sure we’re not wasting dollars,” state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, told The Center Square before Bonta’s press conference.

“I think every governor in every state, after what we’ve seen in Minnesota, should be proactively cutting out waste, fraud and abuse,” Strickland said.

“If you look at the high-speed rail project [in California], billions of dollars were spent with nothing to show for it,” he noted.

The senator said he believes there’s a lot of fraud in California with Medi-Cal and other areas.

To report suspected Medi-Cal fraud, visit oag.ca.gov/dmfea/reporting, call 800-722-0432 or mail a written complaint to the California Department of Justice, Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, Calif. 94244-2550.