The Trump administration’s crackdown on fraud, waste and abuse continues, with the Department of Justice last week launching a new effort targeting healthcare fraud.
The DOJ rolled out a strike force targeting healthcare fraud in Arizona, Nevada and Northern California. The new strike force — which the DOJ is calling its “West Coast” healthcare fraud strike force — comes seven months after the department launched a similar strike force going after healthcare fraud in Massachusetts. Florida is not on this list yet, even though it has a reputation for healthcare fraud, but it might be next.
Experts think the new strike force reflects the federal government’s broader effort to adapt its fraud enforcement to industries that are becoming more data-driven and tech-enabled each day.
Why these regions?
The new West Coast strike force is an expansion of a longstanding enforcement model that…
THE TD BANK INSIDER “BRIBE-FOR-DATA” SCHEME (USA)
Date: February 17, 2026 Perpetrator: Edward Low (Former Bank Employee)
Case Description: In a high-profile case of “Insider Threat,” Edward Low, a former employee of TD Bank in New York, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to accepting bribes in exchange for confidential customer data. Between 2021 and 2022, Low leveraged his internal access to harvest the personal details of high-balance account holders. He then sold this “hot data” to external fraud syndicates for as little as $26,700 in personal kickbacks.
The external fraudsters used the information Low provided to conduct “Account Takeovers” (ATO), creating fraudulent checks and falsifying bank records to drain over $500,000 from unsuspecting customers. Low even went as far as helping co-conspirators open shell company accounts at a second financial institution where he was later employed. He now faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. This case has sent shockwaves through the global banking sector, highlighting that even the most robust external firewalls cannot protect against a “rogue insider” with administrative credentials.
Link to Original: US Dept of Justice – TD Bank Insider Plea