MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s two United States Attorneys are joining forces to create the Mountain State Fraud and Diversion Task Force.
U.S. Attorney of Southern West Virginia Moore Capito and U.S. Attorney for Northern West Virginia Matthew Harvey are teaming up with other federal, state, and local partners to start the force.
On MetroNews “Talkline” on Wednesday, Harvey said this group of investigators will tirelessly combat fraud across the entire state of West Virginia. The task force will include investigators that have a wide range of skills to tackle the problems that rob programs of more than $630 million daily, not annually.
“We have public benefits fraud, we have tax fraud, we have sextortion, and we have securities fraud, but the tools are interchangeable in detecting and recouping,” Harvey said.
Task force members will meet on a regular basis to identify, investigate, and shutdown fraudulent access to federal programs. Every person that pays taxes or pays into federal programs is forced to pay more due to fraud.
“Getting the experts, the resources, and the tools meeting regularly in the same room together to uncover, prosecute the fraud and recover as many assets as possible,” Harvey said.
Those carrying these fraudulent activities out often use the funds for high-end luxury goods, travel, home purchases, personal spending, and business capital. In other cases, the ill-gotten funds end up in foreign countries supporting groups that work to undermine the interests of the United States.
“These fraudsters aren’t taking this money and donating to our churches and charities,” Harvey said. “They’re using it to fund further criminal enterprises, or it’s going overseas, and it’s being put in the hands of people who want to do us great harm.”
The Mountain State Fraud Task Force will include both U.S. Attorney’s Offices, federal, state, and local law enforcement, and the West Virginia Attorney General and Auditor. The task force will meet biannually to update, plan, and coordinate efforts across the state.
“We’re going to have federal partners as well. We’ll have IRS agents and inspectors, the FBI, HSI, and the insurance commission,” Harvey said. “Anybody that has an investigative arm that wants to participate will be allowed to participate in this for sure.”
Harvey said the task force, like any other, will rely heavily on tips from the public. Investigations can be very similar to solving a puzzle, and the smallest, most seemingly insignificant piece provided by a citizen could lead to recovery of assets and prosecution.
“That leads up to a bigger fraud; that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Harvey said. “Having all these people in the same room together communicating with each other, we know it works because it works for our drug task forces, and it will work on this.”