Secretary LaRose Announces Expansion of State-Federal Fraud Prevention Partnership
Pictured: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (left) and Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s Fraud Division
(Columbus) – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced today an expanded fraud prevention partnership with state and federal law enforcement partners.
“Fraud is a crime against every Ohio taxpayer, and it will not be tolerated,” said Secretary LaRose. “We’ve kept fraud rare in our elections by staying one step ahead of the bad guys, and that’s the same approach we need to take with every public office, program and tax dollar in the state.”
To build on that initiative, Secretary LaRose signed a new agreement with the Department of Justice today to streamline the sharing of Ohio business records with the National Fraud Detection Center. The Ohio Secretary of State’s office processes the applications and related updates for all businesses registered in the state. The office approves upwards of 200,000 new businesses in Ohio annually.
“We’ve been leading on this effort for several years now, which resulted in a new state law that allows us to more effectively go after business filing fraud,” said Secretary LaRose. “We initiated that legislation after a Columbus man fraudulently reinstated several old businesses and then applied for unclaimed funds under those business names.”
The expanded data-sharing agreement provides business filing records already available to the public, but the Secretary of State will provide the data to law enforcement more frequently and at no cost.
During a roundtable discussion, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald praised Secretary LaRose's collaboration with the Justice Department and emphasized his desire for other states to follow Ohio's lead on the partnership to prevent fraud.
"This is meaningful to our prosecutors for purposes of identifying the entities that are used to facilitate fraud," stated McDonald. "This is a very important step, and I hope all states, all secretaries of state everywhere, follow your lead and join with us."
Read the Memorandum of Understanding here. More information about the Federal–State Partnership in Ohio to Prosecute Fraud can be found here.