Florida Just Built a Fraud Task Force That Shares Data Across Every Federal Benefit Program

On September 9, 2026, all three United States Attorneys in Florida sat down with the Florida Attorney General and stood up something that did not exist before: a single task force whose mandate is to eliminate fraud in federal benefit programs statewide. The Florida Anti-fraud Task Force pulls federal prosecutors, state prosecutors, more than twenty inspectors general, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the FBI into one room and, more importantly, into one data pool. If you own a clinic, run a pharmacy, operate a home health agency, staff a telehealth platform, or took a pandemic-era loan, the government now sees your activity across programs that used to be blind to each other.

The Florida Anti-fraud Task Force joined all three Florida U.S. Attorney's Offices with the state Attorney General on September 9, 2026. The mechanism underneath it is cross-program data, not the meeting.

Key Takeaways

• The Florida Anti-fraud Task Force launched September 9, 2026, joining all three Florida U.S. Attorney's Offices with the state Attorney General.
• It runs on leads from DOJ's National Fraud Detection Center, which now holds data-sharing agreements with fifteen federal agencies and Florida state agencies.
• Core statutes in these cases are 18 U.S.C. 1347 (health care fraud), 18 U.S.C. 1349 (conspiracy), 18 U.S.C. 1343 (wire fraud), and 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b (Anti-Kickback Statute).
• Cross-program visibility links a Medicare billing record to a pandemic loan application charged under 18 U.S.C. 1014 in one analytic file.
• These matters are decided pre-indictment. By the time a Southern District of Florida grand jury returns a charge, the government has already made its decision.

What Actually Happened on September 9

U.S. Attorneys Jason A. Reding Quinones (Southern District of Florida), Gregory W. Kehoe (Middle District), and John P. Heekin (Northern District) convened the inaugural meeting of the Florida Anti-fraud Task Force alongside Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. DOJ calls it a first-of-its-kind federal-state partnership built to detect, investigate, and prosecute government program fraud and recover money already paid out.

The attendee list tells you more than the press release language does. Prosecutors from all three Florida districts and DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division were there, along with the inspectors general for Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, and Homeland Security, plus IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI. On the state side: the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Statewide Prosecutor, and the Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade Offices of Inspector General. That is the complete set of agencies holding the payment data, the licensing data, and the criminal referral authority for every federally funded program in Florida.

The Engine Underneath It Is the Data, Not the Meeting

The task force is the visible part. The mechanism is DOJ's National Fraud Detection Center, a prosecutor-led analytics unit built to solve a problem DOJ has been candid about: for years, federal programs could not see each other, and a person flagged in one stayed invisible in the next.

Two steps made that real. In July, Florida's Secretary of State and Chief Financial Officer entered data-sharing agreements giving the Fraud Division access to state-held corporate registration records and public benefits payment data. In August, the Fraud Division announced agreements with fifteen federal agencies. The task force will turn the resulting leads into prosecutions, drawing on the existing Florida Strike Force, a standing joint effort among the Fraud Division, the Southern and Middle District U.S. Attorney's Offices, HHS-OIG, the FBI, and the Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

A durable medical equipment supplier with an unusual ordering pattern is one data point. The same corporate officer on a pandemic loan application is a second. Individually, each might have gone nowhere. Linked, they become a target package before anyone knocks.

Consider what that does in practice. The two records used to sit in separate systems that never spoke. They now surface together in a single analytic file, and the file is built before any agent is assigned.

Where the Criminal Exposure Actually Sits

Government program fraud in Florida is charged out of a narrow set of statutes, and the exposure is severe. Health care fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1347 carries ten years per count, twenty if the offense causes serious bodily injury. Conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. 1349 carries the same maximum as the underlying offense, which is why it is charged in nearly every multi-defendant case. Wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1343 carries twenty years, and thirty when the scheme affects a financial institution or a federally declared disaster relief program. That last clause is how pandemic-era loan cases reach thirty-year exposure.

Wire fraud reaches a thirty-year maximum where the scheme affects a financial institution or a federally declared disaster relief program. That single clause is what turns a pandemic-era loan file into decades of paper exposure.

The Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b, criminalizes paying or receiving anything of value to induce federally reimbursable referrals. It carries ten years, and a violation is per se a false claim under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3729, meaning parallel civil liability at treble damages. False statements on federal loan applications are charged under 18 U.S.C. 1014, and money laundering exposure under 18 U.S.C. 1956 follows the proceeds.

How Loss Drives the Sentence

Sentencing is driven by loss. Under section 2B1.1 of the Guidelines, the loss figure sets the offense level and enhancements stack for victim count, sophisticated means, and abuse of trust. A billing-data case can reach a double-digit-year advisory range on arithmetic alone. Amendments restructuring the economic crime loss table take effect November 1, 2026.

That is why the loss number, not the count structure, is usually the fight worth having, and why it is worth having before anyone is charged.

The Mistakes That Decide These Cases

Four errors do more damage in Florida federal fraud investigations than anything a prosecutor does. The first is talking. Agents from HHS-OIG, the FBI, or IRS Criminal Investigation arrive without notice, often at a home rather than an office, and they are practiced at the conversation. Nothing said is off the record, and a false or incomplete answer is an independent felony under 18 U.S.C. 1001.

"Nothing said is off the record, and a false or incomplete answer is an independent felony under 18 U.S.C. 1001."— Aaron M. Cohen, AMC Defense Law

The second is document production without strategy. A grand jury or HHS-OIG subpoena is not a request to satisfy as fast as possible. Scope can be negotiated and privilege has to be screened. A production assembled by office staff over a weekend routinely hands the government a better-organized case than it could have built itself.

The third is treating an audit as administrative. A CMS, ZPIC, UPIC, or TPE audit can be a billing dispute. It can also be the civil front of an open criminal file, and you cannot tell from the letterhead.

The fourth is waiting. Physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and clinic owners routinely wait for an indictment before retaining a federal criminal defense attorney. That is backward. The indictment is the moment discretion ends.

What a Pre-Indictment Defense Actually Does

Pre-indictment work is not a holding pattern. It is the phase in which outcomes are still being decided. Counsel engaged early can open a line to the assigned Assistant United States Attorney and learn whether the client is a witness, a subject, or a target. That classification changes everything that follows. Counsel can present a reverse proffer request, submit a written declination package, or correct a factual premise before it hardens into a charging theory. In billing cases the government's loss calculation often rests on an extrapolation a qualified expert can challenge, and challenging it before indictment is worth far more than at sentencing.

If the matter is going to be charged, early engagement still shapes it. Count structure, whether a conspiracy count attaches, whether forfeiture sweeps in a family home, and whether the client self-surrenders rather than gets arrested are all negotiable before the return and almost none of them afterward.

A federal health care fraud defense that starts at the subpoena stage is working on the loss figure, the target classification, and the charging theory while all three are still moving.

Why the Timing Matters Right Now

The task force has committed publicly to working from analytic leads rather than complaints, and those leads are already generated. The July and August data-sharing agreements were the predicate. September was the activation.

For anyone in Florida who bills a federal program, the investigative sequence has compressed. The old pattern started with a complaint or an audit that escalated over a year. The new pattern starts with a match across datasets and moves to a subpoena far faster, and it extends South Florida's posture into the Middle and Northern Districts.

If you have received a grand jury subpoena, a target letter, an HHS-OIG subpoena, a civil investigative demand, or an unannounced agent visit, the window in which the outcome is still negotiable is open now. It does not stay open.

Common Questions

Under Federal Investigation in Florida?

AMC Defense Law represents individuals and businesses in federal investigations and prosecutions involving health care fraud, government program fraud, kickbacks, and financial crimes, in Florida and nationwide. If you have received a target letter, a grand jury subpoena, an HHS-OIG subpoena, or a visit from federal agents, call 561.542.5494 to arrange a confidential consultation.

Pre-indictment is the phase in which outcomes are still being decided. Target classification, subpoena scope, the loss extrapolation, and the charging theory are all still moving.

If you or your loved ones have been arrested or contacted by federal agents in a benefit program fraud investigation, call Aaron M. Cohen for a confidential consultation, 24 hours a day to get help.

This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with AMC Defense Law or any of its attorneys. Every matter turns on its own facts, and the law changes. If you are facing a federal investigation or charges, consult a qualified attorney about your specific situation.

About the author: Aaron M. Cohen, Esq. is the founding attorney of AMC Defense Law (The Law Offices of Aaron M. Cohen, P.A.), a criminal defense firm based in Boca Raton, Florida. With more than 30 years of experience, Mr. Cohen represents individuals and entities in complex federal and state criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide. He is admitted to practice law in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, and in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida, the District of Columbia, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the District of New Jersey.