NYS Conservatives Rip NYSAG After Report Ranks NY Medicaid Fraud Unit Among Nation's Worst

A blistering report first published by EmpireCenter.org has handed New York conservatives fresh ammunition against Attorney General Letitia James, with Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar accusing the state's top prosecutor of letting billions in taxpayer dollars slip through the cracks while chasing political headlines.

The Empire Center's analysis of federal data found New York's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit ranked 49th in the nation for investigations and dead last for both indictments and convictions when measured against the size of the state's massive Medicaid program.

For Kassar, the numbers are nothing short of an indictment.

"New York State attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy has been warning New Yorkers for months that billions of dollars in potential Medicaid fraud is occurring right under the nose of Governor Kathy Hochul and failed Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is doing virtually nothing to recoup staggering annual taxpayer losses," Kassar said.

He argued the Empire Center findings expose what he called James' misplaced priorities.

"The Working Families Party creation is only interested in grandstanding at political press conferences," Kassar charged. "Actually doing the job of attorney general on behalf of taxpayers seems to be a foreign concept to her."

Kassar didn't stop there.

"New Yorkers are being robbed blind, and their attorney general has turned a blind eye to them," he said. "Is it any wonder that New Yorkers are the highest taxed people in America? Is it any wonder that so many are fleeing a state collapsing from one-party 'progressive' rule?"

The Empire Center report comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general suspended federal funding for New York's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for at least three months, citing what it described as persistently weak criminal enforcement.

According to the report, New York's fraud unit has fallen dramatically behind other large states in criminal investigations and prosecutions despite overseeing one of the nation's largest Medicaid programs. While James has pointed to civil fraud recoveries as evidence of success, the Empire Center argues those figures fail to address the unit's poor criminal enforcement record and says New York continues to rank near the bottom nationally in criminal fraud recoveries relative to Medicaid spending.

James has rejected the federal criticism, insisting her office remains a national leader in fighting Medicaid fraud. But conservatives say the latest report tells a far different story—and one they argue taxpayers can no longer afford to ignore.