- The Department of Justice has launched the National Fraud Detection Center
- The multi-agency center coordinates state and federal enforcement agencies to combat fraud against government programs
- The initiative is led by the DOJ’s Fraud Division and Global Trade & Commerce Enforcement Section
The Department of Justice on Monday announced a new interagency task force aimed at rooting out large-scale fraud against federal programs, bringing together prosecutors, law enforcement bureaus and inspector general offices under a single coordinated structure.
The newly established National Fraud Detection Center, or NFDC, is designed to be prosecutor-driven and will pool investigative and analytical resources from across government to pursue the individuals and networks responsible for the most damaging fraud against taxpayer-funded programs, including actors based outside the U.S. and those running schemes that span multiple agencies.
What Is the Objective of the National Fraud Detection Center?
The center’s central mission is to generate stronger criminal leads by connecting information that has historically been scattered across separate agencies, ultimately supporting more effective prosecutions.
According to the DOJ, the center was created to address a persistent blind spot: fraud actors have often been able to move across different federal programs without being detected, because agencies lacked a shared view of the activity. By uniting federal and state partners in a single collaborative framework, the department said the NFDC is intended to close that visibility gap and present a coordinated response to fraud nationwide.
Who Are the Members of the NFDC?
Membership in the newly formed center is extensive, drawing in investigative and financial-crimes expertise from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and the Treasury Department. Watchdog offices from eight federal departments have also joined the roster: Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor and Veterans Affairs. Rounding out the roster are the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the tax-focused inspector general at Treasury and the oversight arms of both the Small Business Administration and Social Security Administration.
Beyond federal agencies, the department pointed to a roster of state officials whose involvement has bolstered the center’s work. That list includes top election officials from seven states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and South Carolina — as well as treasurers representing Florida, Mississippi, Ohio and South Carolina. South Carolina’s social services agency rounds out the group of contributing state partners.
The initiative is being led within the department’s Fraud Division by Acting Assistant Director Amanda Riedel of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, as well as Acting Chief Cody Matthew Herche of the Global Trade & Commerce Enforcement Section.
