Kehoe, feds announce anti-fraud Operation Show-Me the Money
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Gov. Mike Kehoe was joined by state officials and U.S. attorneys in his office Thursday to announce the start of an anti-fraud crackdown dubbed "Operation Show-Me the Money."
This operation is a collaboration between the State of Missouri and the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute individuals and entities that defraud state benefit programs. The collaboration will bring together state and federal resources to identify potential fraud and strengthen oversight, officials said.
"We're bringing all the full force of state and federal law enforcement together to send a clear message. If you're stealing from Missouri taxpayers, we are coming after you," Kehoe said.
This operation is a collaborative effort between the Kehoe administration, the Missouri Attorney General's Office and the DOJ, bringing staff together from the Missouri Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the DOJ.
The initiative relies on a three-pronged strategy that starts with tips from frontline staff and referrals from ongoing state investigations. Investigators will then launch targeted reviews of specific benefit programs to spot suspicious activity, while also cross-referencing data across multiple agencies to uncover hidden patterns of abuse and emerging trends.
"One of the other new things that we're talking about today is that we have a cooperation agreement with the federal government, so that assistant attorneys general are being sworn in as special United States attorneys to assist in the prosecution of these crimes at both the state and federal level," said Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway.
Matt Price, United States attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said this initiative builds on the momentum of a summer of fighting fraud in Missouri. Price said the U.S. attorneys' offices in Missouri prosecuted cases accounting for $62 million in "actual and intended fraud losses."
In an interview with ABC 17 News, Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said this operation is a state government approach to reducing waste and eliminating fraud.
"Fighting fraud and waste in government is what we [the auditor's office] do all day, every day. And so, you know, we're obviously happy to have Gov. Kehoe and his commitment to participating in that in a larger way, as well as the attorney general's office," Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said although this is the start of an official partnership, an unofficial one has existed, but this allows more focus on the topic.
"So the governor, I think, is just taking it very seriously and wants to partner in ways that maybe they hadn't received as high-level attention as he's wanting to give it in prior administrations," Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said the first meeting for this group is set for Nov. 5.
A focus on fighting fraud has taken priority for the Trump administration, as Vice President JD Vance leads an anti-fraud task force. President Donald Trump this week introduced a federal fraud whistleblower program.
