North Carolina Leaders Join Trump Administration At Anti-Fraud Meeting
This week, leaders from North Carolina joined the Department of Justice’s 2026 Southeastern Fraud Enforcement Partnership event. The Trump Administration is working to build partnerships across the country, and with these seven states. North Carolina leaders at this event include State Auditor Dave Bolike and Attorney General Jeff Jackson.
In conjunction with this event, the DOJ announced fraud charges in 17 different cases across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. These recent cases involve over $350 million in intended losses and include cases involving SNAP benefits, Small Business Administration loans, housing benefits, and tax fraud. From July 4 alone, federal prosecutors charged cases reaching over $90 million loss and implicating 12 named defendants. The Division separately announced the formation of federal-state anti-fraud task forces in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida.
“Defeating the fraud epidemic in our country requires all-hands-on-deck from our federal and state partners nationwide,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Whether it’s sharing intelligence, data, personnel, or priorities, partnering with state agencies directly strengthens our ability to identify those stealing taxpayer dollars. When federal prosecutors work alongside state agencies to root out fraud, fraudsters lose and the American people win.”
Here are the cases as described by the Department of Justice in North Carolina:
Western District of North Carolina led by U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson, United States v. Dumitru. Two Romanian brothers illegally in the United States pled guilty to wire fraud charging them with orchestrating a fraud scheme involving SNAP benefits affecting victims across multiple states, causing nearly $766,000 in loss. A victim reported that she was shopping with her family on their monthly grocery run for approximately $700 of SNAP-eligible items. Because the defendants had used her SNAP benefits, the transaction was denied, and the victim was unable to purchase food or school supplies for her family.
Middle District of North Carolina led by U.S. Attorney Dan Bishop, United States v. Adedayo Afolabi Fateru. Fateru pled guilty as a member of a money laundering ring involving proceeds of various fraud schemes including false applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and false applications for unemployment benefits. He caused nearly $1.7 million in loss.
Eastern District of North Carolina led by U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle, United States v. Mitchell et al. A Robeson County woman (along with seven co-conspirators) who was the owner of a North Carolina tax return preparation business pled guilty to conspiring to prepare false returns claiming fraudulent refunds based on COVID-19 tax credits, causing nearly $25 million in loss.
