EXCLUSIVE: SENATE BILL TARGETS MINNESOTA-STYLE \u2018RUNAWAY FRAUD\u2019 TO FORCE SCAMMERS REPAY TAXPAYERS<\/a><\/p>\n California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen. (Tayfun Coskun\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “Financial issues and potential fraud in California\u2019s unemployment insurance program will be fully examined. The previous administration turned a blind eye toward failing Labor programs: This ends now,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said.<\/p>\n “Immediately, we are engaging a specialized strike team to uncover any potential fraud or abuse and quickly moving to protect the American worker and taxpayers. I look forward to restoring the California UI program\u2019s integrity and financial health.”<\/p>\n Chavez-DeRemer added that the “strike team” will include Labor Department specialists from both its national and regional offices.<\/p>\n The secretary also wrote a letter to the EDD, citing increasing improper payment rates, insufficient timeliness, data accuracy and quality concerns, and questions about participants\u2019 eligibility and the use of taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n California received about $290 billion in COVID relief, part of, part of which helped what the California Post<\/a> described as “rapidly implementing expanded unemployment benefits.”<\/p>\n FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CALLS NEWSOM ‘KING OF FRAUD’ AS TRUMP LAUNCHES CALIFORNIA CORRUPTION PROBE<\/a><\/p>\n Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is cracking down on reported H-1B abuse. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n At least one California UI steward was convicted of using her position to file nearly $860,000 in fraudulent UI claims,<\/a> while some civilians were convicted of creating nonexistent businesses to claim UI.<\/p>\n Just prior to the strike team\u2019s deployment, DOL Inspector General Anthony D\u2019Esposito said he found nearly $1 billion in taxpayer funds “at risk” nationwide due to COVID-related UI fraud.<\/p>\n D\u2019Esposito, a former NYPD officer and ex-congressman from Long Island, said in a statement that an analysis of 6.5 million prepaid debit cards used for COVID UI benefits still had $720 million loaded on them.<\/p>\n WALZ\u2019S MINNESOTA MESS COULD SPARK THE TOUGHEST FRAUD REFORMS IN DECADES<\/a><\/p>\n “My office has warned that, absent swift action, U.S. taxpayers risk losing nearly a billion dollars in fraudulently obtained benefits,” D\u2019Esposito said in a statement.<\/p>\n “This is taxpayer money \u2014 and it demands immediate attention.”<\/p>\n D\u2019Esposito said fraud is not a victimless crime<\/a> and that every misspent dollar is one that an actual needy family could use.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was found at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state. (Madelin Fuerste\/Fox News)<\/p>\n “When we root out fraud, we protect taxpayers and lower the real cost of living,” he said.<\/p>\n Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom and the state Senate\u2019s top Republican for comment.<\/p>\n Charles Creitz is a reporter for\u00a0Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Charles covers media<\/a>, politics<\/a> and culture for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Labor Department deployed a “strike team” to California to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,457,4594,6492,1694],"class_list":{"0":"post-187642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-gavin-newsom","12":"tag-governors","13":"tag-investigations","14":"tag-taxes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gavin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/newsom-looking-on.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Quality](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/quality-learning-sign-improved.jpg\")
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