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You are here: Home / News / $50B Lost in Fraud? Musk & DOGE Push for Urgent Treasury Overhaul
February 11, 2025 by Mishal Ali
Key Takeaways:
- Elon Musk & DOGE exposed major flaws in U.S. government payments, urging immediate reforms.
- An estimated $50 billion per year is lost due to fraudulent entitlement payments.
- Treasury employees supported changes, but past leadership failed to act.
Elon Musk has once again ignited a major debate, this time over government spending. In a detailed post on X, he revealed that the U.S. Treasury and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team agreed on critical changes to improve financial accountability.
To be clear, what the @DOGE team and @USTreasury have jointly agreed makes sense is the following:
– Require that all outgoing government payments have a payment categorization code, which is necessary in order to pass financial audits. This is frequently left blank, making…
Musk highlighted a staggering claim: over $100 billion in entitlement payments go to individuals with no Social Security Number (SSN) or valid identification, with an estimated $50 billion being outright fraud.
Musk outlined key measures to address these issues: requiring a payment categorization code for all transactions, enforcing detailed payment justifications, and updating the DO-NOT-PAY list to block fraudulent entities. He criticized the lack of oversight, stating that financial audits are nearly impossible under the current system.
Treasury Employees Back DOGE-Linked Changes
In response to Musk’s post, Matt Van Swol, a former U.S. Department of Energy nuclear scientist, revealed that Treasury employees had long pushed for these reforms. However, past management blocked efforts, prioritizing “complaint minimization” over fraud prevention.
According to Van Swol, people receiving money rarely complain, while those denied payments—especially fraudsters—do so loudly, creating resistance to much-needed changes.
Musk described it as “ridiculous” that these fundamental safeguards were not already in place. He also criticized the slow pace of updates to the DO-NOT-PAY list, stating that it currently takes up to a year to remove fraudulent entities. He called for weekly, if not daily, updates to prevent further misuse of taxpayer funds.
Nobody in Treasury management cared enough before. I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management.
Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain minimization. People we receive…
$50B Fraud Raises Alarm Over Government Oversight
Musk’s claim that $50 billion per year is lost to fraudulent payments has sparked concerns over financial oversight. If accurate, this translates to $1 billion wasted every week, highlighting the scale of government mismanagement.
He emphasized that these reforms are being implemented by longtime career government employees, not anyone from DOGE, countering speculation about external influence. Musk’s involvement in exposing these inefficiencies has now put pressure on the Treasury to act swiftly.
With the implementation of these measures, Musk and his supporters hope to close loopholes, enhance transparency, and prevent further financial losses. Whether these changes will significantly reduce fraud remains to be seen, but the pressure for greater accountability is undeniable.
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