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Letitia James hammered after NY Medicaid fraud unit funding frozen over ineffective enforcement
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New York Attorney General Letitia James is facing renewed criticism from Republicans after the Trump administration suspended federal funding for the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), citing years of poor criminal enforcement performance and leadership decisions that federal officials say left fraud investigations lagging.
The federal action gives Republicans a new line of attack against James as she campaigns for re-election. Republican challenger Saritha Komatireddy has made the state’s struggling Medicaid Fraud Control Unit a key issue in the race, arguing James failed to aggressively prosecute fraud. Federal watchdogs’ findings now lend new weight to those claims.
«Letitia James ran New York’s Medicaid Fraud Unit into the ground, and now we know why: a deliberate leadership choice to open fewer cases and let them drag on for years,» Komatireddy said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
«This means New York taxpayers are losing their hard-earned money to fraudsters, and patients and seniors are being hurt or neglected, and no one is holding them accountable.»
DR. OZ NAMES 5 STATES IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN AS TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS MEDICAID ABUSE
The Republican Attorneys General Association also chimed in on the funding freeze, arguing it reflected broader differences between Republican and Democratic attorneys general in combating fraud.
«While Republican attorneys general are aggressively fighting fraud, waste, and abuse, Democrat AGs like Keith Ellison in Minnesota and Letitia James in New York knowingly aid and abet scams and fraud in their states,» RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper said in a statement.
«Republican AGs are thrilled to roll up our sleeves and work with JD Vance, Republican AG staff alum Andrew Ferguson, Scott Brady, and the White House Task Force to save taxpayers billions of dollars and deliver maximum accountability.»
New York Attorney General GOP candidate Saritha Komatireddy blasted AG James for failing to adequately investigate and prosecute Medicaid fraud. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images )
In a June 30 letter denying the unit’s annual recertification, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) officials concluded that New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit had become the lowest-performing large state unit in the nation for criminal Medicaid fraud enforcement despite receiving roughly $60 million annually in federal funding and employing more than 270 staff members.
«The New York MFCU is not effectively prosecuting criminal Medicaid fraud,» the letter stated. «The Unit reported only 53 fraud convictions from 2023 to 2025. This is by far the lowest among similar-sized Units; the next lowest number of reported fraud convictions for this period was 129.
«Enough is enough.»
The report also found New York ranked last in criminal indictments, securing fewer than 10 fraud indictments in four of the past five years.
Federal officials further found that 34% of the unit’s open cases were more than three years old, while 69% of referrals from the state’s Medicaid Program Integrity Unit had remained pending for at least two years, contributing to a growing investigative backlog.
The HHS letter concluded that the unit’s poor performance stemmed in large part from «a deliberate leadership choice» to prioritize high-impact civil fraud cases over criminal prosecutions, finding that strategy had left the office ineffective at pursuing criminal Medicaid fraud despite its size and resources.
PENNSYLVANIA AG EXPLAINS WHY STATE LEADS NATION IN MEDICAID FRAUD CONVICTIONS WHILE OTHERS BATTLE MASS SCHEMES
New York Attorney General Letitia James attends a campaign rally with community leaders in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City on Nov. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
While federal officials acknowledged the state’s fraud unit remained competitive in civil recoveries, they said those results did not outweigh the decline in criminal enforcement.
«The Unit has sacrificed its ability to effectively fight criminal fraud to obtain civil recoveries that are largely in line with its peers,» the report stated.
James blasted the funding freeze, accusing the Trump administration of targeting New York for political reasons.
«This administration’s unprecedented attack on New York is another political distraction,» James said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «During my time as attorney general, my office has recovered more than $627 million for Medicaid and was recognized by this very administration for leading the nation in anti-fraud efforts.»
James’ office noted that HHS highlighted New York as one of four states responsible for half of all civil recoveries nationwide in fiscal year 2025. The attorney general also pointed to several recent Medicaid fraud prosecutions, including multimillion-dollar fraud cases announced in recent weeks.
«The only people this decision benefits are the criminals we investigate every day,» James said. «We are considering all legal options to stop this outrageous action.»
TRUMP SAYS ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS ARE UNCOVERING BILLIONS IN WASTE, CLAIMS SAVINGS COULD BALANCE BUDGET
John Sarcone, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in New York said they are expanding efforts to investigate Medicaid fraud and patient abuse.
«Attorney General James’ apparent inability to explain the New York MFCU’s indefensible criminal enforcement performance is not a political distraction as she puts it,» First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III, who is spearheading the revival of the NDNY Health Care Fraud Task Force, said in a statement.
Sarcone noted that the New York MFCU averaged just nine criminal indictments a year between 2021 and 2025, compared with more than 100 annually during the three years preceding James’ tenure.
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«Public benefits fraud and Medicaid fraud did not abruptly stop in 2019,» Sarcone added. «Instead, under the failed leadership of AG James, criminal Medicaid fraud in New York State has been ignored.»
The suspension took effect July 1 and remains in effect through Sept. 30 unless New York completes a series of corrective actions ordered by HHS, including reducing case backlogs, increasing criminal indictments and improving coordination with federal investigators. If those deficiencies are not corrected, the Office of Inspector General warned New York it could lose its federal Medicaid Fraud Control Unit grant for fiscal year 2027.
new york, attorney general, controversies state and local, minnesota fraud exposed, state and local
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday it killed five members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, while the Kurdish opposition group told Fox News Digital that six of its Peshmerga — a term commonly used for Kurdish fighters — were killed in what it described as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ambush in northwest Iran.
The clash marks another escalation in Iran’s Kurdish-majority west after days of reported attacks and clashes involving Iranian security forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kurdish armed factions.
It also underscores the current position of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups that recently were viewed by U.S. and Israeli officials as a possible pressure point against Tehran during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran but ultimately stayed out of the conflict amid mixed signals from Washington and pressure from both Iran and Turkey.
WAVE OF ATTACKS ON IRAN’S IRGC RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RENEWED KURDISH INSURGENCY
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan said six of its Peshmerga — Karo Hormuziari, Fardin Changizi, Mohammad Khaki, Abdullah Mohammadpour, Twana Osmani and Mohammad Amin Bayezidi — were killed in a clash with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near Piranshahr in Iranian Kurdistan July 1, 2026. (The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan)
Majeed Gly, president of the American Kurdish Committee, told Fox News Digital the latest clashes should not be read as a full-scale uprising, but also should not be dismissed as routine border violence.
«What I’m hearing is, this is not business as usual,» Gly said. «This is not like periodic clashes on the border. This is operations, and it seems to be deep inside.»
Gly said Kurdish frustration has grown sharply after months of Iranian attacks on Kurdish areas and opposition-linked sites, including in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He said the region has been hit by more than 850 attacks since February, leaving at least six civilians dead and dozens more wounded.
Hejar Berenji, the U.S. representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, or PDKI, confirmed to Fox News Digital that six PDKI Peshmerga were killed in a clash with IRGC forces in the Piranshahr area of Iranian Kurdistan.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had killed five members of the banned PDKI in northwest Iran, Reuters reported Thursday, citing state media. The IRGC said the group was ambushed after entering Iranian territory in mountainous border areas near Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan Province.
WAVE OF ATTACKS ON IRAN’S IRGC RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RENEWED KURDISH INSURGENCY
Kurdish separatists attempted an Iran crossing from Iraq amid protests. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP via Getty Images)
Berenji identified the six Peshmerga as Karo Hormuziari, Fardin Changizi, Mohammad Khaki, Abdullah Mohammadpour, Twana Osmani and Mohammad Amin Bayezidi. He said the incident took place Wednesday night in the village of Qizqapan, near Piranshahr, and said the PDKI unit was on a «political and organizational mission» when it was «ambushed by a large and heavily equipped IRGC force.»
«This should be understood in the broader context of the Islamic Republic’s continued repression in Iranian Kurdistan and its repeated attacks on Iranian Kurdish civilian camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, even during ceasefire and negotiation periods,» Berenji said. «The regime has increased pressure on Kurdish communities because it understands that Iranian Kurds remain among the most organized and determined democratic forces inside Iran.»
The PDKI is one of Iran’s oldest Kurdish opposition movements. The group has been involved in decades of intermittent conflict with the Islamic Republic, while Tehran has long viewed Kurdish armed groups as separatist threats, while others describe it as a historic, centrist and nationalist Iranian Kurdish opposition group that Iran has targeted for years, including through assassinations of its leaders decades ago.
The Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East with communities spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In Iran, many Kurds live in the country’s mountainous west and northwest, where Kurdish opposition groups have long accused Tehran of repression, executions, forced assimilation and military crackdowns. Iranian authorities view armed Kurdish factions as separatist or «terrorist threats.»
The latest clash followed several days of violence in western Iran. A similar incident near Piranshahr was reported by Iranian state media Tuesday, with the IRGC saying it had killed six members of what it called an «opposition and separatist group.»
Two IRGC members were killed and two wounded in a shooting in Kermanshah Province Monday evening, an attack claimed by a newly formed Kurdish armed group seeking retaliation for the IRGC’s role in suppressing the 2022–2023 protest movement, according to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw.
Iran also appeared to be expanding pressure on Kurdish opposition groups beyond PJAK, the Kurdistan Free Life Party, after days of clashes between PJAK and the IRGC, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
Berenji said the latest clash was not a response to ongoing U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding negotiations, which remain unresolved as talks continue without a finalized agreement.
WAVE OF ATTACKS ON IRAN’S IRGC RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RENEWED KURDISH INSURGENCY
Vice President JD Vance (center) speaks with Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (left) and Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar after arriving for the U.S.-Iran peace talks in Islamabad April 11, 2026. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
«The Kurdish struggle for freedom, democracy and national rights predates the current negotiations and is not dependent on them,» Berenji said. «At the same time, any agreement that ignores the Kurdish question, the regime’s attacks on Kurdish civilians and the repression inside Iran will not bring real stability.»
Gly said Kurdish anger has been compounded by language in the U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding that critics interpret as Washington agreeing not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.
KHAMENEI BODY IN COLD STORAGE AS FEARED BASIJ MOBILIZES AHEAD OF HISTORIC IRAN FUNERAL
People take part in a march in Erbil, Iraq, April 21, 2026, expressing support for the unity of Iranian Kurdish parties and condemning Iranian missile strikes and military actions against Kurdish groups in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. (Rasul Gawhari/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
«This sentence has taken every Iranian opposition group the wrong way, especially the Kurds,» Gly said.
He argued that even during negotiations with hostile powers, the United States should not abandon its public support for freedom movements, invoking former President Ronald Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Gly said he does not see clear evidence that Kurdish groups have gained major new military capabilities but said the perception of Iran’s strength has changed.
«What has changed is the perception of weakness of Iran,» Gly told Fox News Digital. «They are less afraid of the regime.»
The new violence carries broader significance for Washington because Iranian Kurdish opposition groups were recently discussed as a possible ground pressure point against Tehran.
U.S. officials and Kurdish groups had discussed a potential military operation against Iranian security forces in western Iran, Reuters reported in March, while a separate report said Israel was backing Iranian Kurdish plans to seize Iranian border areas, though such an operation would likely require U.S. and Israeli support.
But those expectations quickly faltered. In April, Kurdish fighters ultimately stayed out of the war because of mixed signals from Washington and Israel and Iranian threats and strikes against Kurdish positions in Iraq. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged President Donald Trump during the conflict to prevent Kurdish forces from launching a ground operation inside Iran, reflecting Ankara’s longstanding opposition to Kurdish armed movements gaining ground in the region, Reuters also reported.
During the conflict, Trump told Reuters he would be «all for it» if the Kurds wanted to move against Iran and said their objective should be «to win,» but Kurdish commanders were frustrated by the lack of a clear U.S. or Israeli strategy.
Berenji said the PDKI does not seek chaos, but insisted Kurdish forces have the right to defend themselves.
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Naval units from Iran and Russia simulate the rescue of a hijacked vessel during joint drills at the Port of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan, Iran, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Iranian Army/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«We seek a democratic, pluralistic, secular and federal Iran where all nations and communities can live with dignity and rights,» he said. «But the Kurdish people also have the right to defend themselves against repression, intimidation, and attacks by the IRGC.»
Fox News Digital has reached out to Iran’s mission to the United Nations for comment.
middle east, war with iran, middle east foreign policy, iraq, iran
Empresarios dominicanos se suman a inversionistas europeos interesados en desarrollar infraestructuras hoteleras en la Costa Arriba de la atlántica provincia de Colón, aseguró el presidente José Raúl Mulino en su discurso a la nación este 1 de julio.
Sin dar mayores detalles, el mandatario sostuvo que la actividad turística en el país “se empieza a notar”, y en el primer trimestre de este año creció un 17%.
De enero a abril de este año el arribo de visitantes internacionales al país reporto un aumentó de 16.4% al compararlo con el mismo período del 2025, de acuerdo con cifras de la Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá.
Con la Ley de Incentivos Turísticos que manifestó que presentará para consideración de la Asamblea Nacional, el mandatario dijo que “el Estado enviará una señal clara de confianza a quienes quieran invertir y generar empleo en Panamá”.
Panamá podría reducir de manera significativa las brechas económicas entre la capital y las provincias si logra que una mayor proporción de los turistas internacionales llegue al interior del país, afirma por su parte el informe “Más visitantes, menos brechas: el turismo como motor del desarrollo territorial”, elaborado por la firma consultora Indesa para el reciente Foro de Turismo 2026 de la Asociación Panameña de Ejecutivos de Empresa (Apede).
El documento sostiene que el turismo representa una de las pocas actividades económicas con capacidad de distribuir crecimiento, generar empleo local y atraer inversión hacia territorios históricamente alejados de los principales motores económicos nacionales.
Panamá figura entre los países con mayor ingreso per cápita de América Latina, pero también mantiene importantes desigualdades territoriales.
Actualmente, el 83% de la actividad económica nacional se concentra en Panamá, Panamá Oeste y Colón, mientras que muchas provincias continúan enfrentando menores oportunidades de empleo formal, ingresos y desarrollo productivo.
De acuerdo con el informe, las provincias ubicadas al oeste del Canal –Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos, Veraguas, Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro y Panamá Oeste- concentran cerca del 77% de la población que reside fuera de la capital y reúnen las condiciones para que el turismo se convierta en un verdadero motor de desarrollo regional.
“El turismo tiene una característica que pocas actividades económicas poseen: lleva la demanda directamente a los territorios. Cuando un visitante llega a una comunidad, no solo beneficia a un hotel o restaurante; también genera oportunidades para productores, transportistas, emprendedores, artesanos y numerosos proveedores locales”, destacó Giulia De Sanctis, presidenta saliente de la Apede.
El informe señala que el principal reto no es atraer más visitantes, sino lograr que lleguen al interior del país.
Panamá ya registra cifras históricas: solo en el primer cuatrimestre de 2026 recibió un millón de turistas internacionales y generó ingresos por $2,637 millones.
Actualmente, más del 83% de los turistas internacionales ingresan por el Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen y, para muchos de ellos, llegar a los principales destinos del interior implica recorridos superiores a tres horas.
Esta realidad limita la capacidad del turismo para distribuir sus beneficios económicos hacia las regiones con mayores necesidades de desarrollo. El informe destaca que por cada $100 generados en hoteles y restaurantes se producen aproximadamente $60 adicionales en otros sectores de la economía.
Además, cada millón de dólares en ventas del sector turístico genera más de 42 empleos, lo que convierte al turismo en una de las actividades con mayor capacidad para impulsar oportunidades, ingresos y desarrollo en las provincias.
corresponsal:Desde Panamá
INTERNACIONAL
Security guard survives eight days beneath collapsed shopping center after Venezuela earthquakes
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A 43-year-old security guard in Venezuela was pulled alive from the ruins of a shopping center Thursday after being trapped beneath the rubble for eight days following twin earthquakes that killed more than 2,200 people.
Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was rescued from the collapsed basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal state of La Guaira, where he had been trapped since the powerful earthquakes struck June 24.
«When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn’t make it,» Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press.
Rescuers first made contact with Gil Flores over the weekend after detecting signs of life beneath the debris.
BOY, 2, PULLED ALIVE FROM RUBBLE SIX DAYS AFTER VENEZUELA’S DEVASTATING TWIN EARTHQUAKES
Rescue workers attend to Hernán Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Gil Flores was working an overnight shift when the first earthquake struck. While much of the building collapsed around him, his small security booth stayed intact, protecting him from the falling concrete and leaving enough space for him to survive.
Rescue crews worked through aftershocks, torrential rain and unstable rubble to reach him. They used a telescopic camera to communicate with Gil Flores and lowered water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to keep him alive during the final days of the rescue.
Rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores Gil after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
His wife, Gusbimar González, said the family’s despair turned to hope after rescuers reached her husband.
«When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness,» she told the AP. The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.
Video from the scene showed rescuers carrying Gil Flores on a stretcher covered with an orange tarp through cheering crowds before loading him into a Red Cross ambulance. Members of the Costa Rican Red Cross hugged one another after the rescue.
Rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
The operation was led by Chilean firefighters and included search-and-rescue teams from Costa Rica, the United States, Portugal, Mexico and other countries.
EX-MLB PLAYER SAYS WIFE DIED IN DEVASTATING VENEZUELA EARTHQUAKES
The shopping center collapsed after twin earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela on June 24, destroying tens of thousands of buildings, killing more than 2,200 people and injuring more than 11,000 others.
Gil Flores’ rescue offered a rare moment of hope after days of devastation.
On Tuesday, emergency workers rescued a 2-year-old boy who had been trapped beneath the rubble for six days.
A man wearing a Barcelona soccer team jersey searches through earthquake rubble in La Guaira, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
On Saturday, the U.S. State Department shared video showing American search-and-rescue teams pulling a 9-month-old girl alive from a collapsed structure. The infant was rescued along with her mother, the State Department told Fox News Digital. Both suffered only minor injuries, according to the rescue team.
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The U.S. government has mobilized $150 million in humanitarian aid to help Venezuela respond to the disaster.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and Peter D’Abrosca, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
world, natural disasters, aftermath disasters, disasters, americas
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