As he was making unsupported claims of widespread fraud, Donald Trump’s Social Security Administration began assessing fines on around 100 elderly and disabled recipients without advising them of the penalties, racking up more than $10 million in fines, the Washington Post reports.

The investigation, done by the Department of Justice Inspector General because the responsibility for notifying the alleged fraudsters was the duty of the SSA’s Inspector General’s office headed by Trump appointee Gail Ennis, found in 2018, the Agency’s Civil Monetary Penalty Program stopped notifying subjects under investigation for fraud but continued to assess fines and accrue interest on the fines.  A Trump appointee, Ennis had never led an investigative agency, but in a seven-month program in 2019, months after taking office, she authorized $11.5 million in fines for 83 people who had not been contacted.

After suspending the Civil Monetary Penalty Program, the White House asked the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an independent federal agency overseeing the network of federal Inspectors General, to review the conduct of Ennis’s office.  Ennis has implored the CIG to drop the probe writing, “We believe DOJ OIG has no authority to make unprecedented, programmatic recommendations to [the Social Security Administration],” a lawyer for the agency wrote. “It is disappointing that our concerns, which have government-wide implications, are not being taken seriously.”