Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley reacts to the Department of Justice warning New York Attorney General Letitia James over trans treatments for minors on ‘Fox & Friends.’
Republican New Yorkattorney generalcandidate Saritha Komatireddy is making Medicaid fraud a centerpiece of her campaign. charging that prosecutions have sharply declined under Attorney General Letitia James.
Cracking down on Medicaid fraud has become a flashpoint issue in the country after investigators uncoveredbillions of dollars in alleged fraudtied to public assistance programs in Minnesota. The scandal pushed the Trump administration to make cracking down on fraud a higher priority. with Vice President JD Vance leading a federal effort. Now, Republican candidates in races across the country, including New York's attorney general contest, are calling for states to do more to prosecute Medicaid fraud. recover taxpayer money.
In an interview with Fox News Digital. Komatireddy accused James of failing to aggressively pursue Medicaid fraud, saying taxpayers could be losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries.
"They're totallyfailing to prosecute Medicaid fraud,. you can look at that based solely on the record of Letitia James and her Democratic predecessors," Komatireddy said. "This is not a partisan issue."
New York Attorney General GOP candidate Saritha Komatireddy blast AG James for failing to adequately investigate. prosecute Medicaid fraud.((Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images) Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
NEW YORK REPUBLICANS CALL FOR INDEPENDENT FRAUD INVESTIGATION FOLLOWING MINNESOTA REVELATIONS
Komatireddy's said Medicaid fraud recoveries have plummeted under James. falling from $168 million in 2019, her first year in office, to just $31 million in 2024, according todatafrom New York Attorney General's annual reports.
Before James took office, New York attorneys general routinely posted some of the nation's largest Medicaid fraud recoveries. Under Eliot Spitzer, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered $243.6 million in 2006.Andrew Cuomo'soffice then recovered $113.8 million in 2007, $263.5 million in 2008. more than $283 million in 2009, totaling more than $660 million during his first three years as attorney general. And Cuomo's successor, Eric Schneiderman, recovered more than $335 million in 2012 — the second-highest annual total in the unit's history. its highest recovery in seven years.
"Even her Democratic predecessors used to bring in $200 to $300 million per year in fraudulent proceeds," Komatireddy said. "When Tish James comes into office, it goes down to $20 to $30 million per year. According to her own year-end reports, she's just decided not to do that part of the job."
ALEX BERENSON: MINNESOTA WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING: NEW YORK'S MEDICAID GRIFT IS FAR WORSE
Republican candidate for New York Attorney General Saritha Komatireddy holds a news conference with state GOP lawmakers on increasing public transit safety in New York on Wednesday. April 29, 2026, at West Capitol Park in Albany, N.Y.(Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images))
As New York recovers less money from Medicaid fraud each year under James. the state's spending on the fraud recovery program hasincreased, from about $45 million in fiscal 2020 to $70 million in 2025.
"It used to be the case the New York Attorney General's office would get around 100 criminal convictions a year. holding people who are stealing from Medicaid accountable," Komatireddy said. "Under Tish James, that number is very low. There's one year when she got eight criminal convictions."
New York's handling of Medicaid fraud has also caught the attention of the federal government. Earlier this year, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz sent Gov.Kathy Hochulaletterasking for more information about how the state screens providers and fights fraud. Oz said the review is meant to help protect Medicaid beneficiaries and maintain public confidence in the program. New York was one of only three states — along with California and Minnesota — to receive the letter.
READ: DR. OZ PUTS ALL 50 GOVERNORS ON NOTICE OVER BILLIONS LOST TO MEDICAID FRAUD
Komatireddy said reduced enforcement ultimately costsNew Yorkersby increasing healthcare spending and reducing funds available for other state priorities.
"It's New Yorkers who pay the price, because when people steal from Medicaid, that increases our healthcare costs," she said. "When we are just letting a billion dollars go out the door over the course of her term. that's money that we could be getting back as taxpayers."
Instead, Komatireddy said, lawmakers are forced to seek additional revenue from taxpayers.
New York Attorney General Letitia James stands silently during a press conference at the office of the Attorney General in New York City on Dec. 15, 2025.(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
"The folks in Albany keep thinking of new ways to take more money away from taxpayers," she said. "If you had an attorney general who actually prosecuted fraud properly, you wouldn't have to worry about atax hike."
Komatireddy pledged to strengthen the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit by adding 20 criminal prosecutors.
Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor who spent more than a decade in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. later served as chief of staff at the Drug Enforcement Administration, has framed the race as a choice between a career law enforcement prosecutor and an inept incumbent.
"Like I said, we have to actually just do the job of attorney general," Komatireddy said. "That job involves prosecutingcrimeand fraud."
But a spokesperson from James' campaign pointed Fox News Digital to the Department of Health. Human Services Office of Inspector General's Medicaid Fraud Control Units 2025report, which highlighted in 2025, New York was one of four states responsible for recovering half of all fraud recoveries led by individual states. In total, New York, Georgia, Colorado, and Indiana recovered $272 million out of $506 million.
"The Trump Administration has found its newest mouthpiece,. it’s our opponent," a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "New York’s MFCU has recovered more than $627 million for taxpayers since 2019. was singled out by the Department of Health and Human Services this year as one of the nation’s top-performing units, reporting more than half of all civil recoveries done by individual states for $272 million alongside Georgia and Indiana."
"It’s clear our opponent is more interested in auditioning for a role in the Trump administration than doing right by New Yorkers," the spokesperson added.
Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.
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