President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are set to unveil a $25 million whistleblower fund later Tuesday that pays tipsters as much as $30,000 each for information that secures federal fraud convictions.
The Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, known as WHIP, marks Vance’s newest move in his role as Trump’s fraud czar heading a task force that has concentrated heavily on theft of federal benefits. The program requires submissions through fraud.gov and mandates that tips result in a guilty verdict or plea before the Justice Department pays any bounty.
At Tuesday’s Oval Office announcement, Trump will present a $10,000 check to Nick Shirley, 24, an investigative vlogger who drew attention to fraud among Somali-American-run childcare centers in Minnesota late last year.
“Every day, President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is zeroing in on the rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars and giving Americans the accountability they deserve,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.
“This administration has zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans.”
The rewards structure resembles a longstanding IRS initiative that offers informants between 15% and 30% of recouped funds to encourage reporting of tax fraud. Fox News first reported details of the new program.
Vance has pursued several visible actions since taking charge of the anti-fraud task force. Last month he announced that 750,000 enrollees would be removed from Obamacare for suspected fraudulent enrollment, with another 450,000 placed under review.
He previously blocked reimbursements for the low-income Medicaid program from states running certain programs judged to carry high fraud risk. Vance also imposed a moratorium on durable medical equipment providers for the Medicare program serving older Americans and suspended 447 purported hospice providers in California.
The administration’s broader anti-fraud push in August included shutting down 270 commercial driver’s licensing schools. Officials alleged the facilities were graduating illegal immigrant truck drivers who could not speak English and providing substandard training facilities.
Vance’s task force has targeted multiple federal benefit streams since its formation, using both payment suspensions and eligibility reviews as enforcement tools. The new whistleblower program adds a public-facing tip mechanism to those administrative actions.
The $30,000 maximum payout per successful tip represents a fixed cap rather than a percentage-based reward, differing from the IRS model it partly echoes. Officials have not specified how many convictions a single tipster could potentially be paid for.
The Minnesota childcare investigation that brought Shirley to the White House involved multiple Somali-American-run centers and became a flashpoint in debates over immigrant communities and public assistance programs late last year.
The task force’s next major enforcement actions have not been announced.