DOGE accuses US Treasury of having "knowingly" approved fraudulent payments, some supporting terrorists

The temporary service organization called Department of Government Efficiency Agency (DOGE), co-led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has reported to have discovered the US Department of the Treasury approving payments to fraudulent organizations and terrorist groups.

Musk announced via his official X page that his team “discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once,” Caliber.Az reports.

The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.

They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.

Not even once. https://t.co/kInoGWdw4C

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2025

The claim is part of a wider debacle that has engulfed the finance department of the US government. An article by CNN claims that members of Donald Trump's transition team visited the Treasury Department a few weeks before Donald Trump took office to discuss the power transition. Through a series of specific requests, Trump’s team sought to probe into the department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, an obscure branch responsible for distributing nearly 90% of all federal payments, including Social Security benefits, tax refunds, and payments to federal employees and contractors. This totals billions of transactions annually, amounting to more than $5 trillion.

The top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, unexpectedly left on on January 21 after Trump-affiliated officials showed interest in halting certain government payments, according to three people familiar with the matter. Accordig to the article, Lebryk’s sudden departure, which he announced in an email to his team, has shaken career Treasury officials, several sources told CNN. With Lebryk gone, Trump-appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent authorized access to the payment system for the DOGE team assigned to the Treasury.

Leading up to Bessent’s decision to grant access, CNN reports that the DOGE officials had been operating under the assumption that Trump’s executive order on Inauguration Day, which established their agency, had already granted them permission. That order, in part, directs heads of federal agencies to take "all necessary steps" within the law to ensure Musk’s group has "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems."

By Nazrin Sadigova