Alleged Waste and Fraud in Federal Spending

Fox News obtained exclusive access to a weekly meeting of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk. In the video, Fox News documents what the team characterizes as widespread alleged fraud and wasteful spending across multiple federal agencies. The footage includes discussions of alleged misuse of COVID funds, loans to deceased individuals, and what DOGE team members describe as systemic corruption in federal grant programs.

According to the video, one of DOGE’s early discoveries involved a $4 billion COVID fund at the Department of Education that allegedly required no receipts. Fox News reports that Musk claimed the money was allegedly being used to rent Caesar’s Palace and stadiums for parties. In the video, Musk alleges that when DOGE implemented a simple requirement to upload receipts before drawing down funds, the requests allegedly stopped entirely—even though, according to Musk, they didn’t verify the receipts and would have accepted “a picture of your dog.”

The video details alleged fraud at the Small Business Administration, where DOGE team members claim they discovered approximately $660 million in loans to people listed as over 115 years old, under 11 years old, or with birthdates in the future. According to Fox News, one example included a birthdate of 2165. The team characterizes these as either fraudulent loans or significant data errors that went undetected.

Fox News presents allegations about the Interamerican Foundation, a small agency receiving $50 million annually. According to DOGE team members in the video, only 58% of funds allegedly went to actual grantees, with the rest allegedly consumed by management and travel expenses. The video includes claims that only 10 to 15 cents on the dollar reached end recipients, citing Government Accountability Office estimates.

The video focuses extensively on alleged misconduct at the United States Institute of Peace. According to DOGE team members, they discovered loaded weapons at the headquarters, a $130,000 contract with an alleged former Taliban member for unspecified services, and private jet expenditures. Fox News reports that shortly after DOGE arrived, the chief accountant allegedly deleted over a terabyte of accounting records. The team claims they recovered the data and discovered that unspent congressional funds were allegedly swept into private bank accounts with no congressional oversight. According to the video, this matter was referred to the FBI and Department of Justice.

In Fox News’s Own Words

“When people looked into it, this wasn’t us, this was before us, they found that money was being used to rent out Caesar’s Palace for parties, rent out stadiums.”

“Soon as we asked for anything at all, that suddenly the requests were like, ‘Oh, we don’t need it anymore.’”

“Just a few hours after we got into their headquarters, we found that their chief accountant had actually deleted over a terabyte of accounting records from several years.”

The allegations presented in this video raise significant questions about oversight mechanisms in federal spending programs. If substantiated, the claims suggest systemic failures in accountability across multiple agencies, from basic data verification to financial record-keeping. The alleged deletion of accounting records and referral to federal law enforcement indicates potential criminal conduct that extends beyond mere waste. Whether DOGE’s reforms will create lasting change or represent temporary fixes remains to be seen, but the video documents what its participants characterize as pervasive fraud requiring sustained attention.