Trump admin releases 'MOST WANTED' fraudsters list

The Labor Department putting fraudsters on notice. For the first time ever, its inspector general has released a list of their most wanted fraudsters. Look at this, 16 fugitives wanted in cases involving more than $55 million in alleged fraud. And now we're getting a look at their faces. Now, this man is accused of taking part in a scheme involving $4 million in illegal kickbacks. He was vacationing in Costa Rica when he learned Learned that he'd been indicted and instead of coming home, he fled to Hungary. But he's now in custody. Now, other alleged fraudsters are still on the run, like the 75-year-old woman you're looking at. She's accused of helping carry out a $45 million health care fraud scheme. Prosecutors say she paid kickbacks to get Medicare patients and falsified medical records to make them appear sicker than they really were. There's also at least three alleged fraudsters linked to a Romanian crime group that stole unemployment benefits from Americans, all to enrich themselves. Officials say this gang laundered more than a million dollars by stealing jewelry from elderly communities and pawning it, as well as shipping gold and luxury cars overseas. And get this, authorities believe they are hiding out in Romania. They always seem to flee overseas. Joining me now is the man who launched this first. It's the first ever most wanted list. Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito. Anthony, thank you for being here. I can't think of anything more important for you to be working on. Let's start with Romania. These guys, they were in a ring. Yeah, they were a crime ring. They have been indicted for labor racketeering. And really what it comes down to is something that President Trump and Vice President Vance's White House task force has been so focused on. And that is the fact that much of the fraud proceeds that we're dealing with are linked back to criminal networks, especially transnational criminal networks who want to cause harm to the United States of America. No doubt. And this one that you captured, so you've already captured one of them. And Kash Patel, it's funny, he had a list of like 10. They've already captured like six or seven of those. So you're well on your way. But this was a former FBI contractor who fled? Yeah, former FBI contractor, again, labor racketeering. He was able to steal close to about $5 million. When he was indicted, he was in Costa Rica. He immediately fled to Hungary. And you mentioned our great FBI director, Kash Patel. You know, he has made it very clear that these fugitives, especially those who are wanted for fraud, there's no place to hide. You're not going to hide in America. You're not going to hide in another country. You're not going to hide in another continent. And this guy was found in Hungary and we're waiting to extradite him back to the United States of America to hold him accountable. Wow. And I saw another one. We didn't mention this one in our introduction, but here it is. Unemployment while in jail is what the Labor Department tweeted and conceded two jobs, concealed, excuse me, two jobs he stole from taxpayers. And then they gave him federal prison, I believe, or something. It's a little hard to translate here. But tell me about that. Yeah, this was a case that was in Iowa. So it was there was just sentencing. It was one hundred and sixty five thousand dollars. Stolen over a course of a few years, and that may not sound like a lot of money, but I think what really we need to focus on, and again, one of the focuses of... This task force led by Vice President Vance is that there's no fraud too big or small, right? This money is really for the most vulnerable population, and we shouldn't be stealing it in any form. This person applied for unemployment insurance. He lied. At one point, he actually had two jobs, so he was getting paid two salaries collecting unemployment insurance. And then also there was a time where he was collecting unemployment insurance while he was actually incarcerated for another fraud scheme. So these are the things that's happening, and I think what's important to focus on is that there's a lot of people who are not getting paid for unemployment insurance. You know, in previous administrations, this was all looked at as bad accounting or bad paperwork errors. And President Trump and Vice President Vance under this fraud task force has made it very clear that it's no longer being looked at as an accounting error, that we are holding these individuals accountable, that we are clawing back the money, that we're giving it back to the American people. And, you know, Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice and the Fraud Enforcement Division, led by Colin McDonald, You see changes, because now when people are sentenced, they're being forced to pay restitution. And that's a lot what the American people want to see, right? We want to hold these individuals accountable, not only put them in jail, but make sure that they're paying money back that they stole from hardworking Americans. And I think that's one of the things that really needs to be messaged by so many of us, right? Right. We need to be talking about this administration and the work that President Trump is leading in making America more affordable. And safer in fighting fraud. So arrest and then trying to get them to pay back the money, which I know I hear from viewers all the time. That's what they want. Unbelievable. This guy was collecting unemployment while in jail. Wow. Also, I saw you wrote an op-ed and it says Trump's federal watchdogs are doing their jobs. Past IGs let slide and the old guard hails it. Why? So you're some of your predecessors have criticized you for trying to get these fraudsters like that defies my mind. Yeah, it defies my mind, too. And quite frankly, there's a lot of them that I guess are upset that they were fired by President Trump. But quite frankly, if they were doing their job all along, we wouldn't be uncovering record numbers of fraud in the United States of America. And I take the job of inspector general very clearly. When you take the job, you take an oath to protect, to serve, and to serve in an independent capacity. The independence falls when you're conducting investigations within the Department of Labor, which I have shown very clearly that I have the ability to do. That doesn't mean that you can't support an administration, that you can't support the fact that we want to tackle fraud, that you can't support this war on fraud, because as is very clear from these fraudsters, they don't go down the list of the people that they're about to scam and say, are you a Republican or a Democrat? They don't care. What they care about is stealing money from the American people. I've said it before and I will say it again, this is not a Democrat issue, this is not a Republican issue, this is an American issue, and it's one that President Trump and Vice President Vance and this administration is taking extremely seriously. lawmakers, my former colleagues in the House, they should be taking this time to find legislation to put in place that we could codify the changes that we're making in America so that our children and our grandchildren aren't suffering the losses that we are paying from these fraudsters stealing from the United States of America. Completely blows my mind. Someone would not want you to stop fraudsters. I don't care who you are. If you are collecting a taxpayer salary and you're finding a fraudster, I'm going to be the first person to applaud you. So well done. Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now on Fox 1.