Today, the Department of Justice released the 2025 Annual Report to Congress on Department of Justice Activities to Combat Elder Fraud and Abuse , which details the Department’s progress in protecting older Americans and holding perpetrators of elder fraud accountable.
Over the reporting period, criminal and civil litigators across the Department pursued more than 280 enforcement actions against over 600 defendants – including many in the United States illegally or located overseas and extradited to be charged in U.S. courts. These offenders, both domestic and transnational, attempted to steal, or did steal, more than $2 billion from more than one million older Americans. The Department also successfully held multiple nursing home operators accountable for providing grossly substandard care to vulnerable Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
To strengthen its response to elder fraud and abuse, the Department continued to invest in capacity building for law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges. It held the first National Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Summit, which brought together nearly 400 elder abuse multidisciplinary team members from around the country to share best practices for coordinated enforcement and improved services for older Americans.
Department reporting confirms that older adults lose billions of dollars every year to elder fraud schemes. During the reporting period, the Department recovered or froze millions of dollars stolen from older victims. The Department – through Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) formula grants to states – also supported more than 4,000 victim assistance organizations, which provided services to nearly 200,000 older victims nationwide. Additionally, the Department supported the first National Elder Abuse Victim Services Needs Assessment, a resource that will enable the Department and others to address and close identified gaps in services for older victims in the years ahead.
Recognizing the devastating consequences of elder fraud and abuse, all components within the Department engaged in some form of public awareness to promote prevention. In total, the Department held nearly 1,200 elder-focused public awareness and training events, reaching nearly 15 million Americans with information about prevention, intervention, and available resources.
The Department is committed to using every tool available – enforcement, victim services, capacity building, and public outreach – to combat the scourge of elder fraud and abuse, and it will continue to prioritize elder justice in the year ahead, building on these accomplishments.