NATIONAL DESK:

The goal, recover hundreds of billions of dollars in stolen taxpayer funds and reward the tipsters who help the federal government find the money.

It’s almost like a suitcase in an airport, if you see something say something,” Bessent told Fox News Monday.

Managed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the program incentivizes whistleblowers with potentially huge paydays, upwards of 30% of what’s collected, to help the federal government recover stolen taxpayer money. It targets fraud in Medicaid & Medicare, government relief programs, and Covid-era economic relief. Beyond standard fraud, it covers money laundering, sanctions violations and the bank secrecy act.

This is money that is not going where it’s supposed to go but more importantly it’s being stolen from the American taxpayer,” said Bessent.

The administration is directing would-be tipsters to an online submission form to make a tip. Bessent said Monday, so far, the administration has received 700 leads.

This could be hundreds of billions of dollars in recouped money and again, the programs are supposed to go to those in need,” Bessent said.

The program comes on the heels of the formation of the “Task Force to Eliminate Fraud,” spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance. Plus, fraud investigations by independent journalists Nick Shirley and James O’Keefe, who recently released reports focusing on alleged hospice, daycare and election fraud happening in California.