Vance task force suspends 447 hospices over $600M LA fraud claims

FIRST ON FOX: The anti-fraud task force, led by Vice Mayor J.D. Vance, suspended 447 nursing homes and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles suspected of committing fraud, with total fraud estimated at more than $600 million.

The number of suspensions represents an increase of roughly 539% from the 70 Fox News Digital reported in early April.

“Where there is fraud, the task force will find it,” a spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital. “We won’t stop until every hard-earned taxpayer dollar goes to honest Americans who deserve them.”

A White House official emphasized Vance and the task force’s commitment to rooting out fraud and sent a stern warning to anyone suspected of fraudulent activity.

TRUMP TARGETED BLUE STATES OVER TAXPAYER THEFT, CALLING VANCE A ‘FRAUD Czar’

“To all the crooks: Good luck trying to hide from the Vice President’s task force,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “[The anti-fraud task force is] reviewing and following every possible lead. “These suspension numbers and dollar values ​​saved will only increase.”

The rising numbers prompted Vance and CMS administrator Dr. It was added to the $259.5 million in Medicaid funding provided to Minnesota, which Mehmet Öz announced they planned to block in February.

The move follows Gov. Tim Walz’s decision in January not to seek a third term at a time when fraud in state programs is under increasing scrutiny.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY FACES SCREENING AFTER WIDESPREAD HOSPITAL FRAUD IS REVEALED

The dramatic rise in suspected fraud and the figure topping half a billion in potential fraudulent activity was revealed by an anti-fraud task force as Democratic lawmakers in California advanced a bill that would impose steep fines and potentially criminal charges for disclosing information about immigrant service workers.

Federal agents are preparing for a coordinated operation targeting a multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud network (FBI)

Nick Shirley, a freelance journalist known for exposing the Quality “Learning” Center and various other fraudulent health centers largely owned and operated by Somali immigrants in Minnesota, lashed out at the bill as he recently set his sights on exposing fraud in California.

“California is trying to pass a bill that would criminalize investigative journalism as misdemeanors, with $10,000 fines, imprisonment, and content takedown,” Shirley wrote to X. “The proposed bill is titled AB 2624 and was introduced after I exposed mass fraud by immigrant groups in America.”

FRAUD CONCERNS INCREASE IN CALIFORNIA WHEN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO A MAJOR SCHEME THAT USED TAXPAYERS AS A GAMBLING BANK

“Under AB 2624, state-funded organizations such as Somali ‘Learning’ Day Care Centers will be protected from exposure if they operate in California,” added Shirley. “The enemy is truly within us. While our politicians choose to protect crooks and illegal immigrants, it is time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who ‘rule’ us.”

Independent journalist Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable meeting in the White House State Dining Room on October 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The bill passed a committee in the California legislature on an 11-2 vote.

AB 2624 was introduced by Democratic assemblywoman Mia Bonta, the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

‘WE ARE COMING AFTER’: DR. OZ CANCELS LA DOCTOR’S MEDICARE ACCESS DUE TO $71 MILLION HOSPITAL BILL

The bill’s official title states that it addresses “the privacy of immigration support services providers,” but GOP critics have dubbed the legislation the “Nick Shirley Law” after Shirley was implicated in suspected fraud in California.

A view of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, California, on August 19, 2025. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The California Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee committee hearing summary describes the legislation: “This bill expands the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program to allow designated immigration support services providers, employees, and volunteers who are exposed to harm or threats of violence because of their work with immigrants to keep their addresses off public records.”

DOCTOR DENIES HAD KNOWLEDGE OF WIDESPREAD MEDICARE FRAUD IN LA COUNTY USING HIS PROVIDER NUMBER

The California Assembly’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee is chaired by Assemblymember Bonta.

Bonta argued that “informing” businesses “isn’t journalism” and told KSBW8: “This is a time when we need to make absolutely sure that people who are trying to do good work to protect our immigrant communities can be protected.”

Republican California Assemblyman Carl DeMaio harshly criticized the bill, saying it sought to “intimidate” journalists.

CALIFORNIA BUILDING WITH DOZENS OF HEALTH CARE, HOSPITAL PROVIDERS RAISE EYEBROWS OVER FRAUD SPECULATIONS

The Quality Learning Center in Minnesota has been identified as being at the center of the state’s alleged child care fraud scandal. (Madelin Fuerste/Fox News)

“California Democrats are trying to intimidate citizen watchdog journalists and protect the waste and fraud occurring at far-left NGOs,” DeMaio said in a statement. he said. “AB 2624 can only be described as the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act,’ a bill designed to silence citizen journalists who expose fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

“Rather than fixing the fraud issues that have been exposed, Sacramento politicians are trying to silence the people who exposed them,” DeMaio added. “AB 2624 would allow activists and taxpayer-funded organizations to demand removal of video evidence even if it clearly reveals abuses, threatening journalists with huge financial penalties.”

Fox News Digital reached out to both Mia and Rob Bonta, as well as Shirley and DeMaio, but did not hear back in time for publication.