Fitch to Stand Up Joint Task Force Vigilance With Mississippi's Two U.S. Attorneys and the FBI
Attorney General Lynn Fitch said Thursday that her office will stand up a federal-state anti-fraud task force with Mississippi's two U.S. Attorneys and the FBI, as part of a Justice Department announcement of fraud enforcement actions across the Southeast.
The Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division announced 17 cases spanning Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, involving more than $350 million in intended losses. The cases cover SNAP benefits, Small Business Administration loans, housing benefits and tax fraud. The Division said it was separately forming federal-state anti-fraud task forces in North Carolina, Mississippi and Florida.
“President Trump has challenged all of us to step up our efforts to fight fraud and protect American taxpayers from this grift,” Fitch said. “Partnerships like this one show that we are bringing everything to the table in this work. In that spirit, with the support of the U.S. Department of Justice, my office is standing up Joint Task Force Vigilance with our two U.S. Attorneys and the FBI to surge resources and personnel to make Mississippi safer, protect Mississippi taxpayers, and restore law and order. This first-of-its-kind task force will bring the full authority of our offices to bear on con artists, grifters, fraudsters, and scammers.”
The Justice Department did not publish a start date, a budget, a staffing figure or a description of the task force's structure. Fitch's office has not said how many prosecutors or investigators it will assign.
Two of the 17 cases were brought in Mississippi. In the Northern District, led by U.S. Attorney Scott Leary, prosecutors charged Lakeith Faulkner, an attorney and Small Business Administration employee whose job involved working with borrowers on the Economic Injury Disaster Loan approval process. The Justice Department alleges Faulkner devised a kickback scheme with co-conspirators including Tierra Scott, a former IRS employee, generating more than $11.5 million in fraudulent loan payments by the SBA.
In the Southern District, led by U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger, prosecutors allege that federal inmates housed at the Yazoo Federal Correctional Complex conspired to steal unemployment insurance benefits and EIDL funds using falsified identities, generating approximately $4.3 million in losses. Trial in that case is set for February 2027. The Justice Department notes that an indictment, information or complaint is merely an allegation, and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The Division also announced data-sharing agreements with state officials in six states. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson and Treasurer David McRae are among those whose offices agreed to give the Fraud Division access to publicly available corporate registration and public benefits payment data. The Division said the data will help it identify patterns across business entities and benefits payments, and cut through the shell companies and layered structures fraudsters use to conceal control.
Mississippi was represented at the event by Fitch, Watson, State Auditor Shad White and McRae. The agreements followed a roundtable that the Division said brought together 18 U.S. Attorneys' offices, seven state attorneys general offices, five federal law enforcement partners and more than 50 state officials.
“Defeating the fraud epidemic in our country requires all-hands-on-deck from our federal and state partners nationwide,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Whether it's sharing intelligence, data, personnel, or priorities, partnering with state agencies directly strengthens our ability to identify those stealing taxpayer dollars.”
The National Fraud Enforcement Division was created on April 7. The Justice Department says its work supports the President's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.