On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about a government-wide payment verification process implemented last year.

The article reports:

The Treasury Department has blocked nearly $100 million in taxpayer money from going to dead people since implementing a government-wide payment verification process last year, The Post has learned. 

The department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service discovered the money set to go to ghosts after a review of an eye-popping 885 million payments worth a total of nearly $2.7 trillion.

Since March 2025, the screening has identified more than 4,900 disbursements, worth approximately $99 million, associated with deceased payees, according to the Treasury. 

The $99 million figure is a tiny fraction (0.0036%) of the $2.7 trillion the department reviewed as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse — but more than triple what Treasury discovered going to the deceased in the days before President Trump took office last year.   

“Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. 

The article concludes:

In February, Trump signed the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law, which allowed Treasury permanent access to the death file.

The department has projected a gain of $330 million in net benefits through the reduction in improper payments to dead people.

I am thrilled that the payments to dead people are being stopped, but is there any effort made to prosecute the people who spent the money?