Texas Comptroller Don Huffines launched the Texas Fraud Investigation and Recovery Strike Team (Texas FIRST), a new statewide unit within the Law Enforcement Operations Division to investigate fraud, government corruption, sales tax fraud, and unclaimed property fraud.
The unit will work with regional investigators across Texas and partner with local, state, and federal law enforcement, according to the Comptroller's office. The unit will identify, investigate, and dismantle schemes that steal taxpayer money and exploit state programs.
The launch is part of Huffines' restructuring of the Comptroller's office since he took office on August 1. He has implemented new fraud-detection controls, launched reviews of major school districts to uncover spending violations, shut down the use of state grants for unauthorized surveillance tools, and enforced strict compliance requirements on contractors and grantees with immediate termination for violations.
Huffines also reorganized the criminal investigation division into a statewide financial crimes unit and opened a whistleblower portal for Texans to report fraud, tax evasion, waste, and abuse.