The numbers tell the story better than any press release can.
Since June, the FBI has captured four of its Most Wanted Fraudsters in five weeks — on three different continents — accounting for a combined nearly $1.8 billion in alleged fraud, collectively on the run for over 3,500 days. All four are now in custody.
The latest is Elaine Escoe, 41, who allegedly helped steal more than $32 million in COVID-19 relief funds through a sprawling fraud scheme involving fake businesses, fabricated tax documents, manufactured bank records, and kickbacks of up to 50% of loan proceeds. She was charged in 2025, failed to appear for her court date, and fled to Jamaica — where she was living under the fake identity “Harley Newman” until Jamaican authorities, acting on a tip, caught up with her.
She was returned to the United States Friday. She is the last remaining defendant in a scheme where her co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced to a combined total of over 480 months in federal prison.
Kash Patel said it plainly: “Elaine Angene Escoe, on the run since May of 2025, was captured in Jamaica while living under a fake identity — and returned to the United States today to face justice. Those who steal from American taxpayers have nowhere to hide.”
He’s right. And the track record of the last five weeks proves it isn’t just a slogan.
Here’s what the Biden administration’s approach to COVID fraud enforcement actually produced: a sprawling theft operation that by some estimates consumed hundreds of billions of dollars from programs supposedly designed to help American businesses survive a national crisis. PPP loans. Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants. Shuttered Venue Operators grants. Economic Injury Disaster loans. Every program with money attached became a target, and the enforcement response — for years — was slow, scattered, and insufficient to create any real deterrence.
The Trump administration created the National Fraud Enforcement Division in April. The Most Wanted Fraudsters List launched June 4. By June 8 — four days later — the first capture was made. Three more followed in five weeks. Over 30 high-value targets have been returned to U.S. custody since June alone.
This is what happens when an administration treats government fraud as the serious federal crime it actually is, rather than a bureaucratic inconvenience to be managed with consent decrees and strongly worded letters.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche captured the administration’s posture in one sentence: “Those who exploit taxpayer-funded programs will be held accountable by this Department of Justice, no matter how long it takes or where they attempt to hide.”
Jamaica. The Philippines. Wherever they run. They’re coming back.
COVID fraud cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions. The Biden DOJ made a portion of those fraudsters uncomfortable. The Trump DOJ is making them run — and then catching them anyway.
Four down. More to come.
