Man Reports Himself to Fraud Tip Line to Collect 1% Commission

POCATELLO, Idaho — Hours after the White House launched a program paying tipsters a 1% commission on recovered fraud, Merle Snitchell, 58, became one of its first whistleblowers by turning himself in.

“The president said, ‘If you turn somebody in,’” said Snitchell, a part-time HVAC estimator. “He never said somebody else. I’ve had my eye on this guy for five years. Nobody knows his habits better than me.”

His tip, filed from his laptop Tuesday night, concerns a $41,000 pandemic loan for a lawn-care company whose entire payroll was Snitchell and a leaf blower. Under President Donald Trump’s Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, Snitchell stands to collect $410 once the money is recovered, from Snitchell.

“People will make millions of dollars by turning others in,” Trump said at Tuesday’s Oval Office announcement. Snitchell said he is starting small and local.

He has worked out the math on a legal pad: repay $41,000, plus penalties, minus the $410 commission. “I come out behind, sure,” he said. “But that’s $410 I didn’t have yesterday.”

Gil Ledger, 71, a retired county auditor who moderates an online forum for amateur fraud spotters, said the case raises novel questions. “He’s the informant, the suspect and the key witness,” Ledger said. “Normally that’s a conflict of interest. Here it’s just efficient. He doesn’t even need a wire.”

The case grew more complicated Wednesday morning, when Snitchell’s wife, Darlene, filed a competing tip on him from the same laptop. Trump has said he will personally settle disputes between rival tipsters. “I’ll make that determination,” the president said. “It’ll be done expeditiously and fairly.”

As of this report, Darlene had been told she was likely to receive the full $410, and Snitchell had filed a new tip about what she plans to spend it on.