Vice President JD Vance announced his White House anti-fraud task force has charged 40 people in a $40 million SNAP scheme, adding to more than $641 million already uncovered.
Speaking Wednesday at the Cincinnati FBI Field Office in Kenwood, Ohio, Vance detailed how the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud identified another $40 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud and brought charges against 40 people for the alleged schemes.
The stop was part of a two-stop swing through his home state, with a rally planned later at the Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati. The numbers fit a larger pattern the task force has tracked since it began last year.
Washington Examiner reporting put the same figures front and center: $40 million identified and 40 charged, with Vance framing the theft in blunt terms about who actually pays the price.
Vance put the program’s purpose in plain language before turning to the abuse.
"That is one of the most important and sacred things that our tax dollars go to, making sure that our fellow citizens don't go hungry at night."
He continued:
"Unfortunately, like with so many of these other amazing programs, we find that there are people out there who decide to commit fraud against these programs, who, quite literally, in this case, will steal from the mouths of hungry children in order to enrich themselves."
The latest case lifts the task force’s SNAP fraud total past $641 million since its launch last year. Fox News reported the same running tally and added enforcement steps beyond the new charges: more than 1,000 retailers banned from SNAP, nearly 5,000 others suspended, and combined fines of $44 million.
Vance stressed prevention over recovery. Once the money leaves the system, clawing it back is difficult.
"Getting money back is very hard. Once it's gone out the door, it's very hard to get it back."
He added that the real leverage comes earlier in the process:
"What we've done most effectively is actually just stop the money from going out the door in the first place, because that's the only real way to ensure the American people don't lose it."
That focus tracks with other recent work from the same effort, including earlier findings where the fraud task force blocked billions in improper payments across federal programs.
One high-profile case tied to the broader crackdown involves Atlanta rapper Mercedes New, known as Shawty Dred. The New York Post reported he allegedly built more than 350 fake SNAP accounts with stolen identities and pulled fraudulent EBT cards between 2020 and 2026, netting about $4.6 million.
Prosecutors charged him with 46 counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of food stamp fraud. Vance used the case to draw a sharp line between the program’s purpose and the lifestyle it was never meant to bankroll.
"SNAP exists to help hungry children eat; it does not exist to provide private jets to a guy like Shawty Dred."
Attorney General Todd Blanche put the human cost in concrete terms, saying 220,000 Americans could have eaten for the entire month of October with the nearly $42 million tied to the wider set of thefts.
Vance has kept a busy public schedule on enforcement and accountability themes, whether pressing the case against open-border fallout overseas in remarks that blamed French riots on elite policy choices or drawing hard lines on guest-worker programs that undercut American paychecks.
Earlier this week President Donald Trump launched the White House Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program from the Oval Office. Accurate tips that expose fraud, waste, or abuse earn a 1% commission on the total amount recovered.
Trump told reporters Tuesday he would personally decide the awards and do so quickly.
"I'll determine, and I will be very generous."
He described the process as binding arbitration with fast payment:
"I promise you, I'll be fair, and I'm not doing it for any other reason other than to expedite, because I think it's very important. But it'll be a binding arbitration. You'll get your money immediately, but I'll make the determination."
The structure is simple: tipsters who deliver usable evidence get paid, and the government keeps the rest of the money that would otherwise vanish into fake accounts and banned retailers. Vance’s Ohio appearance put a local face on that national push.
Readers following Vance’s profile have watched the same accountability streak in other arenas, from his warnings that H-1B visas must stop replacing American workers to the ongoing speculation about 2028 that still has Trump holding off on any early nod.
Taxpayers fund SNAP so children eat. When task-force agents and prosecutors pull $40 million out of fake accounts and charge the people who built them, that is the system working the way voters were promised.