FBI nabs alleged COVID fraud fugitive who allegedly stole millions
Fox News correspondent Chanley Painter reports that Elaine Angene Escoe, a fugitive accused of stealing more than $32 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 aid, has been arrested in Jamaica. Escoe reportedly left the country in 2025. FBI Director Kash Patel pointed to the arrest as another result of the agency’s “Most Wanted Fraudster” initiative.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Justice Department has charged dozens of individuals in connection with alleged COVID-19 relief fraud schemes that caused losses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
Speaking to reporters in the White House Rose Garden, Blanche said federal prosecutors nationwide helped secure the arrests of 160 defendants between mid-June and September. About 80 of those suspects were newly charged in Missouri and surrounding states over alleged pandemic relief fraud.
Blanche said the alleged schemes resulted in more than $245 million in losses.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced charges against dozens of suspects accused of defrauding COVID-19 relief programs. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
Separately, federal prosecutors in Southern California announced Tuesday that 12 defendants who ran in-home childcare businesses had been charged with allegedly collecting more than $10 million in government payments. Investigators said the facilities had few children—or none—actually enrolled.
Prosecutors said all 12 defendants were naturalized citizens originally from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq or Somalia.
EXCLUSIVE: VIDEO SHOWS MICHIGAN LAWMAKER TOURING DAYCARE AMID $1.1M TAXPAYER-FUNDING INVESTIGATION
“Anyone who knowingly violates the law will be held responsible,” Blanche said.
According to prosecutors, some of the defendants allegedly filed childcare payment claims while they were not even in the United States.
One suspect, 63-year-old Turkiya Alawad, was reportedly outside the U.S. from Jan. 1 through Jan. 30, 2024. Despite her absence, prosecutors said she submitted claims and received childcare payments for that period, according to The Associated Press.
The alleged California daycare fraud scheme is larger than the Feeding Our Future case in Minnesota, which involved approximately $4.6 million in claims submitted to the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, The AP reported.
According to The AP, the California investigation surpasses the size of Minnesota’s notorious Feeding Our Future fraud case. (Photo by Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
The Trump administration has made the investigation and prosecution of fraud involving federal programs a central priority.
Vice President JD Vance leads the administration’s fraud task force, which prosecutors say has contributed to dozens of arrests across the country.
