Why Elon Really Bought Twitter

When Musk bought Twitter for $44B, most thought he was crazy. But hidden behind the deal was his real mission-building the world's most powerful AI inside a secretive "Area 51" in Memphis. Jeff Brown just found a backdoor in-before June 1.

DOGE trumpets unemployment fraud that government already found

MATT SEDENSKY
April 15, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) -- The latest government waste touted by billionaire Elon Musk's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency is hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims it purportedly uncovered.

One problem: Federal investigators already found what appears to be the same fraud, years earlier and on a far greater scale.

In a post last week on X, the social media site Musk owns, DOGE announced "an initial survey of unemployment insurance claims since 2020" found 24,500 people over the age of 115 had claimed $59 million in benefits; 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5 collected $254 million; and 9,700 people with birthdates more than 15 years in the future garnered $69 million from the government.

The tweet drew a predictable party-line reaction of either skepticism or cheers, including from Musk himself, who said what his team found was "so crazy" he re-read it several times before it sank in.

"Another incredible discovery," marveled Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who repeated DOGE's findings to President Donald Trump in a Cabinet meeting last week.

Chavez-DeRemer's recounting of the alleged fraud, including claims of benefits filed by unborn children, drew laughter in the Cabinet room and a reaction from Trump himself.

"Those numbers are really bad," he said.

But Chavez-DeRemer needn't look further than her own department's Office of the Inspector General to find such fraud had already been reported by the type of federal workers DOGE has demonized.

"They're trying to spin this narrative of, 'Oh, government is inefficient and government is stupid and they're catching these things that the government didn't catch,'" says Michele Evermore, who worked on unemployment issues at the U.S. Department of Labor during the administration of former President Joe Biden. "They're finding fraud that was marked as fraud and saying they found out it was fraud."

The Social Security Act of 1935 enshrined unemployment benefits in federal law but left it to individual states to set up systems to collect unemployment taxes, process applications and mete out support.

Though states have almost complete control over their own unemployment systems, special relief programs -- most notably widely expanded benefits enacted by the first Trump administration at the outset of the COVID pandemic -- inject more direct federal involvement and a flood of new beneficiaries into the system.

In regular times, state unemployment systems perform "very well, not so well and terribly," according to Stephen Wandner, an economist at the National Academy of Social Insurance who authored the book "Unemployment Insurance Reform: Fixing a Broken System." With COVID slamming the economy and creating a flood of new claims that states couldn't handle, Wandner says many more were "quite terrible."

Trump signed the COVID unemployment relief into law on March 27, 2020, and from the very start it became a magnet for fraud. In a memo to state officials about two weeks later, the Department of Labor warned that the expanded benefits had made unemployment programs "a target for fraud with significant numbers of imposter claims being filed with stolen or synthetic identities."

That same memo offered an option for states trying to protect a person whose identity was stolen to fraudulently collect unemployment benefits. To preserve a record of the fraud but keep innocent people from being linked to it, states could create a "pseudo claim," the memo advises.

Those "pseudo claims" led to records of toddlers and centenarians getting checks. The Labor Department's inspector general tallied some 4,895 unemployment claims from people over the age of 100 between March 2020 and April 2022, but another departmental memo explained that the filings stemmed from states changing dates of birth to protect people whose identities were used.

"Many of the claims identified ... were not payments to individuals over 100 years of age, but rather 'pseudo records' of previously identified fraudulent claims," the 2023 memo says.

A Labor Department spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Musk's findings and DOGE gave no details on how it came to find the supposed fraud or whether it duplicates what was already found.

Though DOGE ostensibly looked at longer timeframe than federal investigators previously had, it tallied just $382 million in fake unemployment claims, a tiny fraction of what investigators were already aware.

In 2022, the Labor Department said suspected COVID-era unemployment fraud totaled more than $45 billion. The Government Accountability Office later said it was far worse, likely $100 billion to $135 billion.

"I don't think it's news to anyone," says Amy Traub, an expert on unemployment at the National Employment Law Project. "It's been widely reported. There've been multiple congressional hearings."

If DOGE's newest allegations have an air of familiarity, it's because they echo its prior findings of about Social Security payments to the dead and the unbelievably old. Those were false claims.

That makes DOGE an imperfect messenger even when fraud has occurred, as with unemployment claims.

Jessica Reidl, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute, is a fiscal conservative who so champions rooting out federal waste she has written 600 articles on the subject. Though she believes unemployment insurance fraud is rife, she has trouble accepting any findings from DOGE, which she says has acted ineffectively and possibly illegally.

"When DOGE says impossibly old dead people are collecting unemployment in huge numbers, I become skeptical," Reidl says. "DOGE does not have a good track record in that area."

Traub said the burst of pandemic-era unemployment fraud led states to implement new security measures. She questioned why Musk's team was trumpeting old fraud as if it's new.

"Business leaders and economists are warning about a national recession, so it's natural to think about unemployment," says Traub. "It's an attack on the image of a critically important program and perhaps an attempt to undermine public support on unemployment insurance when it couldn't be more important."

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky.

Continue Reading...

Popular

A Nebraska bill would criminalize hemp-based THC. Opponents say it could make grandma a felon

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Kind Life Dispensary has been offering cannabinoid gummies, tinctures, ointments, now even canned beverages for seven years as one of the first businesses in Nebraska to offer such products. Founder and co-owner Andrea Watkins said her venture has been wildly successful, and she now has three locations in Nebraska's capital city that employ eight people and sell to hundreds of regulars who use the products to treat everything from aches and pains to anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.

India's leader Modi touted all was well in Kashmir. A massacre of tourists shattered that claim

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Hundreds of Indian tourists, families and honeymooners, drawn by the breathtaking Himalayan beauty, were enjoying a picture-perfect meadow in Kashmir. They didn’t know gunmen in army fatigues were lurking in the woods.

Elon's Greatest Invention... Hidden in South Memphis? - Ad

Tech legend Jeff Brown recently traveled to the industrial zone of South Memphis to investigate what he believes will be Elon's greatest invention ever... Yes, even bigger than Tesla or SpaceX.

Asian shares are mostly higher after Wall St breaks its winning streak

Shares were mostly higher early Tuesday in Asia after benchmarks fell on Wall Street, snapping a nine-day winning streak.

Elon Musk's Ex-Wives Missed Out on His Billion-Dollar Wealth — Here's Why

In a stark contrast to Elon Musk's $364 billion fortune, his first wife Justine Wilson Musk is worth just $15 million.

No.1 Opportunity for 2025 [Take Action Now!] - Ad

Starlink's potential IPO Could Be the Biggest in History--Silicon Valley insider James Altucher has uncovered a way to profit BEFORE the IPO--with as little as $50. Musk's $180B giant is set to launch--will you miss out? Claim your spot before it's too late.

IRS whistleblower on Hunter Biden is out as acting commissioner just days after getting the job

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just days after to acting IRS commissioner, the whistleblower who testified publicly about investigations into Hunter Biden’s taxes is out of the job, according to three people familiar with the decision.

Gold Is Breaking Records. This Stock Hasn't Moved Yet. - Ad

With gold over $3,200, one near-term producer is still trading like a developer. But the mill is running, crews are working underground, and first production is months away.

Billionaire John Paulson Buys $800 Million Stake In Alaskan Gold Mine As Gold Hits Record Highs

Billionaire John Paulson has been building his miners portfolio for many years and is well-positioned to benefit from the soaring price of gold. 

Elon Musk Drops Stunning Bombshell? - Ad

Behind closed doors, Musk revealed a game-changing breakthrough technology that could shake the tech world & crush major companies. Why is no one talking about it? Luckily, we had a man on the inside - watch now to see the details & how to profit!

The Most Important "AI Stock" You've Never Heard Of - Ad

The AI revolution is moving faster than anyone expected. But what no one is talking about is the one company AI simply can't exist without. It may be the single most important AI investment, yet most people don't even know its name. For now. The moment Wall Street catches on, this $20 stock could explode.

Trump's AI Education Push, Cramer's AI Stock Optimism, And More: This Week In Artificial Intelligence

Week full of AI news: Trump advocates for AI education, Cramer bullish on AI stocks, Amazon and Nvidia dismiss data center fears, OpenAI's restructuring raises concerns, Nadella's Microsoft introduces AI updates.

Trump's Autonomous Vehicles Stance, Bezos Vs. Tesla, And More: This Week In Mobility

Autonomous driving & EV have seen significant developments this week: Trump's change of heart, Bezos-backed startups, & Tesla's declining sales.

Maverick Trader Reveals 97% Accurate System - Ad

This man's simple strategy makes money in any market...With a 97% accuracy at hitting winners over the past 8 years!

CEOs Say Container Trade Growth Increasingly Tracks Global GDP, But Tariff Risks Loom

CEOs say that container trade growth is increasingly tracking global GDP, signaling a stable market, but tariff risks loom.

Trump Wishes Happy Easter To All Including 'Radical Left Lunatics' And 'Weak And Ineffective Judges': Truth Social Posts Gets Slammed

President Donald Trump's Easter messages on Sunday stirred controversy as they shifted from traditional holiday greetings to sharp political attacks on Joe Biden, judges, and the 2020 election.

This Intercept Stopped the Gold Sector Cold - Ad

114.26 g/t over 10.6m. That's not a typo. And it wasn't deep exploration-it was in an active mining zone.

SoFi Stock Is Up 11% This Week: What's Going On?

Shares of SoFi Technologies have surged 11% since Monday's open. The company on Tuesday announced a strategic expansion into alternative investments.

Why Elon Really Bought Twitter - Ad

When Musk bought Twitter for $44B, most thought he was crazy. But hidden behind the deal was his real mission-building the world's most powerful AI inside a secretive "Area 51" in Memphis. Jeff Brown just found a backdoor in-before June 1.

Asian shares inch higher as uncertainty over US tariffs persists

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets inched higher in cautious trading on Monday as investors watched to see what may come of negotiations over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Defi Coin Triggers All "Buy" Signals and Could Break Out Soon - Ad

Some are calling this the most promising DeFi project since Ethereum itself. Here's the #1 DeFi Coin Set to Soar. While Bitcoin grabs headlines, this lesser known DeFi coin is quietly gearing up for a monster rally. Experts say now is the time to buy before it reaches escape velocity.

Trump Says 'I Run The Country And The World,' Yet Polls Plummet

The Atlantic published an in-depth interview with President Donald Trump on Monday, marking the first 100 days of his second term in the White House. 

Georgia is the 8th state sued over age verification for children on websites

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia on Thursday became the eighth state to see its for children to use social media challenged in court.

You Can Take a Stake in Elon's xAI Before June 1st... - Ad

Elon Musk's private AI firm xAI may have just leapfrogged ChatGPT and Google's Gemini--building what experts call the future of AI. For the first time, you can take a stake starting at $500.

Elon Musk's Tesla Reportedly Manipulating Odometers To Dodge Warranty Repairs

Tesla is facing lawsuit over odometer manipulation. Plaintiff claims premature warranty expiration, seeking damages for California Tesla drivers.

A New Gold Discovery in Red Lake? - Ad

Two new gold anomalies just lit up the maps. They sit right beside a restart-ready mine-and follow the exact fold pattern that's made Red Lake world famous.

Gentex Q1 Impacted By Tariff Uncertainty, Suspends Mirror Production For Chinese Market

Gentex shares fall as Q1 results reflect tariff pressures, prompting a halt in China-bound mirror production and a lowered 2025 sales outlook.

Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County workers begin 2-day strike

LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 50,000 Los Angeles county workers began a two-day strike Monday evening, closing libraries and disrupting administrative operations across the nation's most populous county.

The New Face of DOGE? - Ad

There is now a new, powerful and controversial figure at the heart of DOGE. And, just like Elon, wherever this man goes, money just seems to follow. I wouldn't be surprised to see some people become millionaires when this man makes a DOGE-related announcement by July 22nd.

'Sell In May And Go Away?' Only In Bear Markets, One Expert Says

Historically, markets deliver weaker and more volatile returns during the May through October timeframe than any other time of the year.

What It's Really Like To Work With Elon... - Ad

A business partner of mine recently told me how one morning, Elon's "DOGE Agents" simply showed up. The whole departments were merged. Dozens of tasks and contracts were reassigned. Several projects were permanently shut down and replaced. That's when he called me, and I realized what was happening.

KLA Stock Slips Despite Better-Than-Expected Q3 Results

KLA released its third-quarter results after Wednesday's closing bell. Here's a look at the key figures from the quarter:

Trending Now

Information, charts or examples are for illustration and educational purposes only and not for individualized investment management This message contains commercial elements, such as advertising. We only send these offers to those who have opted in to our newsletter. Past performance is not indicative of future results. For these reasons we strongly suggest trading in a DEMO/Simulated account. The information provided by us is for educational and informational purposes only. We make no representations or warranties concerning the products, practices or procedures of any company or entity mentioned or recommended and have not determined if the statements and opinions of the advertiser are accurate, correct or truthful. If you use, act upon or make decisions in reliance on information contained or any external source linked within it, you do so at your own peril and agree to hold us, our officers, directors, shareholders, affiliates and agents without fault.

Copyright finstrategist.com
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service