Tipsheet

Gavin Newsom Claims He’s 'Leading the Charge' Against Fraud in California

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  April 10, 2026 11:15 AM

California Governor Gavin Newsom is seeking to take credit for “leading the charge” against fraud in his state after Attorney General Rob Bonta held a press conference Thursday outlining efforts to investigate hospice fraud. However, after years of investigation, those efforts have resulted in just five arrests, a minuscule number compared to the scale of alleged fraud uncovered by others.

"California is again leading the charge against large-scale identity theft and hospice fraud," Newsom wrote in a post on X. "Today, we're taking decisive action against 14 providers who tried using stolen identities to bill Medi-Cal for nonexistent hospice services."

"Last week, Governor Newsom denied that widespread fraud was occurring in his state," senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Christopher Rufo, wrote in response. "Now, he's trying to claim credit for fighting it. Totally incoherent—he is clearly worried that fraud will sink him."

Newsom's press office then responded to Rufo.

"The Governor never denied fraud was happening, he repeatedly said if there is fraud he would partner to fight it," his press office wrote. "Fighting fraud has been something the Governor has taken seriously for years, people can see the results here: http://StopFraud.CA.Gov. What the Governor won’t entertain is people making baseless claims with no data or evidence and misleading people for the sole purpose of pushing a political agenda. Is lying and pushing made up numbers a form of fraud?"

Yet the governor’s record remains shaky. His efforts to root out fraud within a vast, well-funded social safety net, overseen by an expansive bureaucracy, have fallen short, and his administration has done little to partner with those working to expose it.

Nick Shirley, an independent journalist and YouTuber, has begun to devote his career to exposing fraud after exposing a childcare fraud scheme in Minnesota. But after exposing alleged hospice fraud in California, Newsom and other state officials chose not to confirm, deny, or even investigate his findings.

Leading gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has also allegedly exposed billions in fraud.

And so has Rufo.

And yet the pattern remains the same. Newsom’s administration has largely ignored outside investigations, opting instead to launch its own efforts while paying little attention to those already exposing fraud, and still taking creidt for leading the charge against fraud.