The Department of Labor (DOL) and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) have deployed a joint federal strike team to New York to combat rampant unemployment insurance fraud.
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Just the News reports that the Trump administration dispatched investigators this week to the state to recover hundreds of millions in unemployment bogus payments.
Investigators say they are targeting suspected fraud networks that are fleecing the taxpayers out of a staggering $2 million per day, according to Fox News.
Anthony D’Esposito, the DOL’s inspector general, said the agency is “taking a tough-on-crime approach to dismantle this fraud, hunt down every stolen dollar, and prosecute those responsible.”
D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective and Long Island congressman, told Fox News Digital, “New York is stealing from the American people every single day — draining their hard-earned tax dollars through rampant unemployment insurance fraud and improper payments.”
New York has the highest unemployment insurance fraud rate in the country at 15 percent, according to the DOL and also has the highest improper payment rate at 23 percent.
The federal strike team will be embedding OIG agents directly within the New York State Department of Labor, aiming to track leads, close loopholes, and pursue both civil and criminal investigations, according to NTD.
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According to an OIG press release, investigators are seeking to get to the bottom of more than $750 million in improper unemployment insurance claims and over $507 million specifically identified as fraudulent in recent filings.
Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office is defending the state’s anti-fraud protections and said the governor has been taking steps to safeguard taxpayer dollars from abuse.
A spokesperson for the governor told Fox News Digital, “Governor Hochul and the State Department of Labor take fraud and abuse very seriously. That’s why the Governor has led the way in implementing several changes since the pandemic to fight waste, fraud and abuse.”
Acting Labor Secretary Scott Sonderling is leading efforts to crack down on unemployment insurance fraud and had a strong warning for all state governors to end the fraud or face consequences.
Sonderling described all fraud as “a theft on taxpayer dollars” and pledged to take action against states with weak safeguards against fraud, encouraging them to “verify first and pay later, stop paying first and verifying later.”
.@Sonderling47: “All fraud is a theft on taxpayer dollars.”
There’s countless examples of fraud that hurts American Workers and under @VP’s leadership on the @WHFraudTF—@USDOL is putting a STOP to it. pic.twitter.com/CNkaTZYzCL
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— U.S. Department of Labor (@USDOL) July 16, 2026
