The Trump administration is starting a new $25 million program that will pay Americans who discover and report instances of fraud up to $30,000 per qualifying tip.
The federal government has established similar financial incentive programs before, including an IRS whistleblower program strengthened in 2006 to reward individuals for reporting tax violations and a Securities and Exchange Commission program authorized in 2010 to reward tips about securities law violations. But a defining feature of the new program is that it is designed to reward whistleblowers “at a much earlier stage of prosecution” and does not “require the matter to result in large fines or forfeiture.”
“These early-stage rewards aim to encourage prompt disclosure of information by giving whistleblowers more certainty about the amount and timing of a possible reward payment, while still leaving whistleblowers eligible for potentially larger rewards should their tips ultimately lead to large financial penalties or forfeiture,” the program’s webpage reads.
While a report doesn’t have to result in substantial financial penalties or forfeitures to reward the whistleblower, it does have to result in criminal charges. To qualify, reports may also concern crimes involving health care benefit programs or benefits administered by the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Veterans Affairs, War or the Small Business Administration.
The program particularly targets fraud involving hospice care, home health care, day care and special services.
YouTuber Nick Shirley, who investigated fraud in Minnesota, California and elsewhere, was recognized during Tuesday’s Oval Office announcement of the new initiative.
“We’re actually thrilled to be joined by Nick Shirley, who, as the president said, has done more than anybody that I’ve met recently as a citizen journalist to uncover the fraud. Nick is going to get a financial reward for doing so,” said Vice President JD Vance.
The program is the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to root out fraud involving government programs, efforts that have intensified amid revelations of widespread fraud in Minnesota. Earlier this year, the administration established a new Justice Department division dedicated to fraud enforcement, launched a Treasury Department whistleblower initiative and created a government-wide anti-fraud task force chaired by Vance. It also announced an IRS task force targeting tax-related fraud, expanded federal health care fraud prosecution efforts and introduced new measures to combat Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
