JD Vance has threatened to “turn off” federal funding for government health insurance programs in states that refuse to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on suspected fraud.
States which fail to “get serious” about fraud would lose Medicaid and Medicare funding, the US vice-president announced on Wednesday, sparking fresh accusations that Trump officials are using unfounded allegations to punish political rivals.
Hospices and home health agencies are also halted from new Medicare enrollment for six months while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) investigates potential fraud alongside Vance’s anti-fraud taskforce, the agency announced on Wednesday.
The administration will review anti-fraud funding for states that it deems to have failed to tackle fraud, Vance said. “And if we continue to find problems, we can turn off other resources within their state…
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