Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent Holds a Fraud Task Force Press Conference in St. Cloud, MN

[58:25] please welcome the secretary of the treasury scott besant good afternoon and thank you all for being [58:42] here today i'm pleased to be joined by fbi director cash patel cms administrator memet oz [58:50] ftc chairman andrew ferguson and assistant attorney general colin mcdonald as we bring [58:57] new force to the fight against fraud president trump has made clear that the war on fraud [59:03] is not the work of one department but a mandate that we must carry across the entire administration [59:10] i am proud to stand alongside so many dedicated colleagues who are delivering on that mandate [59:17] every day america is a generous country and the compassion of our people imposes a corresponding [59:24] duty on our government that is why i visited minnesota in january to make clear that the u.s [59:31] treasury is deploying every tool to bring an end to this egregious unchecked fraud and hold perpetrators [59:40] to account over the past year treasury returned 175 million in payments that would have gone to [59:47] deceased individuals and expanded the do not pay access from four to 99 percent of federal programs [59:56] further we've stopped almost 190 million and returned over 100 million in funds to u.s victims of [1:00:04] overseas fraud ordered an audit of approximately 9 billion in treasury contracts and together with our [1:00:12] partners at the irs proposed stronger eligibility checks for health insurance tax credits these actions [1:00:20] form one front of a whole of government effort led by vice president vance the vice president's task force [1:00:28] first convened in march and he has worked tirelessly to restore vigilance and responsible stewardship [1:00:34] in the management of public money since january 2025 the trump administration has uncovered more than [1:00:42] 2 260 billion in fraud prevented 72 billion in taxpayers funds from going out the door to illicit actors [1:00:50] annually and brought enforcement actions against nearly 60 billion dollars nowhere is the work more urgent [1:00:59] than here in minnesota in the weeks following my visit treasury's financial crimes enforcement network [1:01:06] known as fincin issued a geographic targeting order to trace criminal networks that divert funds [1:01:13] overseas and ensure that taxpayer dollars go to the american people not terror groups like al-shabaab [1:01:22] we have ongoing investigations at home and abroad into al-shabaab its networks and its enablers [1:01:30] since the start of the trump administration fincin data have also supported the law enforcement effort [1:01:36] that led to the arrest and charging of 115 fraudsters as well as 75 convictions and nearly 3 000 [1:01:45] subpoenas across minnesota and just yesterday irsci assisted with investigative activity at several sites [1:01:55] suspected of fraud i want to give a shout out to our great officers at irsci they don't get much press but they are [1:02:04] quietly one of the most effective groups in the united states government for fighting fraud today [1:02:11] fincin released additional information to help refer new leads to law enforcement and provide support to [1:02:18] ongoing investigations we issued a notice to help financial institutions identify report suspicious [1:02:25] activity especially those involving charities and non-profits the notice highlights how criminals exploit [1:02:33] fundraising capabilities to facilitate terrorist financing fraud and other illicit activity fincin also [1:02:41] issued an alert on the risk associated with cross-border transactions originated by money service [1:02:47] businesses known as msbs the alert details how bad actors can exploit msbs to move funds overseas fincin [1:02:58] identified over eight billion dollars in potentially suspicious foreign agent directed payments [1:03:05] between 2021 and 2025 alone and today's alert urges financial institutions to be vigilant in detecting [1:03:14] identifying and reporting suspicious activity arising from certain cross-border payments including [1:03:21] u.s based msbs the next phase of this fight meanwhile will make it easier than ever for whistleblowers [1:03:30] who know where the fraud is to help lead us to it until now any citizen who detected fraud was forced [1:03:38] to navigate a maze of tip lines scattered across law enforcement agencies no more for the first time we've [1:03:46] created a single centralized portal at america.gov slash fraud treasury is proud to seed this new 25 million fraud [1:03:58] whistleblower incentive program anyone who submits information that leads to a conviction or enforcement [1:04:06] action may be eligible for a thirty thousand dollar reward speaking up has long carried across for [1:04:13] whistleblowers under president trump it can offer a reward now the industrial scale fraud that tim waltz [1:04:22] shamefully and perhaps knowingly allowed to fester is the defining legacy of his administration but with [1:04:29] president trump back in office washington is no longer content to watch minnesota's fraud epidemic spiral [1:04:36] from a distance the days of indifference are over and under this president's leadership wherever the money [1:04:42] leads the full weight of government will follow now i'm pleased to turn it over to someone who has [1:04:48] helped give the fight against fraud both its discipline and its force fbi director cash patel thank you scott [1:05:03] this fbi follows the money this fbi will put in prison anyone who commits fraud anywhere in the world [1:05:12] against any american citizen thanks to president trump we finally have a commander in chief who prioritized the [1:05:18] initiative to go after the fraudsters with the full force of government thanks to the vice president [1:05:24] for leading the anti-fraud task force with our department of justice partners and the assistant [1:05:28] attorney general colin mcdonald and thanks to this great team here with chairman ferguson with dr oz with [1:05:34] our state and local partners it is an interagency lift as the secretary said it is a whole of government [1:05:40] approach and the results we are delivering are truly historic we're here today to announce that just [1:05:47] yesterday fbi minneapolis and our partners executed 17 search warrants in a single day to combine into [1:05:54] a 26 count indictment three of those search warrants were at a child care center two of those search [1:06:00] warrants were at the residences of the owners of those centers and two more of those search warrants were [1:06:04] on the early intensive development and behavioral intervention unit here in minnesota fbi minneapolis and [1:06:11] our interagency partners arrested four of the alleged fraudsters faizal emmy aspen associates 11 counts [1:06:18] of health care fraud 8 million in intended loss jama mohammed american home health care six counts of [1:06:26] health care fraud 3.27 million dollars in intended loss faiza ahmed home sweet home eight counts of health [1:06:35] health care fraud 10 million dollars in intended fraud and habiba mohammed smart therapy one count of [1:06:44] conspiracy to defraud the united states totaling nearly 20 million dollars in intended fraud and loss [1:06:52] the subjects intended to defraud thousands of victims of over 41 million dollars money that was supposed to [1:06:58] go to those in need with our precious taxpayer dollars funding that bill instead they thought they could get [1:07:04] away with their crimes they did not succeed because of this team and the president of vice president's [1:07:09] anti-fraud task force we are going to continue working with our our state and local partners and [1:07:14] the interagency to dismantle disrupt and take down fraud networks wherever they are in minnesota right [1:07:20] here in saint cloud and everywhere else in the country the fbi's initiative under the vice president's [1:07:25] fbi's most wanted fraudsters list has also seen historic achievements in just four months after [1:07:31] launching the list we captured four of the most wanted fraudsters on four separate continents who [1:07:36] are on the run for nearly 5 000 days who defrauded americans of two billion dollars there is no other [1:07:43] administration in u.s history that has set out in such an initiative we set out on it we delivered [1:07:48] for the american people and we're going to continue manhunting fraudsters in every corner of the earth [1:07:53] right here in minnesota the feeding our futures program has achieved historic success in terms of [1:07:59] our investigation we have charged thanks to our department of justice partners 81 subjects 70 have [1:08:04] already been convicted and their fraud value is over one half billion dollars these communities will [1:08:12] no longer be ravaged by these fraudsters who come here to siphon away our precious dollars from our most [1:08:18] needy our senior citizens and our children this fbi is proud to stand with the trump administration and [1:08:24] vice president advance's leadership and our interagency partners and know this to any fraudsters who [1:08:29] continue or think they will continue to defraud americans this fbi will continue to follow the [1:08:34] money we will continue to work with our interagency partners and we will put every last one of you in [1:08:39] prison i'm truly thankful of fbi minneapolis our sac and the entire fbi squad in minneapolis for me as [1:08:46] your director thank you for working tirelessly to this effort and most importantly thank you for being a [1:08:51] partner in this team it is truly an interagency lift and we are here to deliver these historic results [1:08:57] it's a great day to be here in minnesota it's a great day for america because the world knows we [1:09:02] are not just watching fraud we're taking action and we're kicking butt and now it's my honor to [1:09:06] introduce my dear friend and one of the champions of the anti-fraud movement dr oz thank you in many [1:09:16] ways the war on fraud our nation's war on fraud started right here in minnesota it's not an issue to [1:09:23] be proud about it's just a reality and we have been doing a lot of work in minnesota as we have in many [1:09:29] other states because the problems we identified here are not unique to minnesota but they're [1:09:33] particularly evident in minnesota since the inauguration of these programs that the president [1:09:38] again assigned the vice president to run this anti-fraud task force we've embarked on an [1:09:42] unprecedented quest to crush fraud and corruption here and nationwide the network of crime the river [1:09:49] of criminal activities runs deeper than we ever thought possible and today we're going to put another [1:09:55] face to the kind of bad behavior that we're detecting and preventing yes director patel has agreed to [1:10:00] help me this is charmaine meadows we want to put a name and a face to some of the things we're talking [1:10:05] about earlier this month charmaine was not just indicted she was convicted by a federal jury for [1:10:12] stealing over three and a half million dollars for the now defunct minnesota medicaid housing stabilization [1:10:17] services program there's many cautionary tales here so i'm going to spend a few moments to bring alive what [1:10:23] we are doing at the national level with one individual here in minnesota this program the medicaid [1:10:29] housing program was designed to keep homeless and disabled seniors who were suffering serious [1:10:34] conditions the exact kind of people you want to put your hand out and help back up again help it was [1:10:39] designed to help keep them out of institutions which are also save taxpayer dollars and by helping [1:10:44] them get comfortable and stable housing it was supposed to achieve that but charmaine and fraudsters like her [1:10:50] don't want that to happen and they act in ways that obscure with the process that could have allowed it [1:10:56] to occur the program was so overrun with corruption that it ballooned from being about a two and a half [1:11:01] million dollar program when it was first established in night in 2020 just five years six years ago [1:11:07] to over a hundred million dollars in 2024 that is a 40-fold increase in four years that's impossible to [1:11:16] stand if you're even paying a slight bit of attention to what you're doing you would never let that happen [1:11:21] unfortunately it looks like that was the norm in many instances minnesota shut the program down i'm [1:11:27] going to say that again this housing stabilization program which everyone on the stage thinks has merit [1:11:32] was shut down because of fraudsters like charmaine meadows now she built more hours than possible she [1:11:39] hired untrained individuals overseas she did unspeakable things that broke the very [1:11:45] integrity of this valuable program leading to it being completely removed it was no longer offering [1:11:51] those services to worthy folks living in minnesota who could benefit from them that is the price we pay [1:11:57] for allowing charmaine meadows to not only say this is her website by the way i couldn't photoshop this [1:12:02] it's exactly what you see it proven personalized profitable that last word of course being the [1:12:07] operative one now no one's getting housing services let's get back to charmaine she built a program for [1:12:11] housing services that were never provided to vulnerable medicaid beneficiaries who could have [1:12:16] desperately used them she built for services across multiple states and countries at a time at the same [1:12:21] time that is physically impossible to provide services all at once her employees were doing more than 20 [1:12:27] hours per day of work again she claims not really happening and that unfortunately led to people even in [1:12:34] the hospital being offered services which again not legal and physically impossible a telltale sign of [1:12:40] fraud that's how we shut down people like charmaine and her colleagues like hers we go after them folks [1:12:46] like cash patel treasury secretary bessett and the law enforcement team here in minnesota and elsewhere [1:12:51] went after her and she's going to jail now that's the face of this problem let's talk about how we actually [1:12:57] deal with the issues thank you the first major issue we have to do and accomplish nationwide is being able to [1:13:03] revalidate providers that means specifically are you really allowed to do the service that you're [1:13:08] being told you can do many of these programs got out of kilter because unlicensed individuals and [1:13:13] unmonitored settings did unmeasured i have tasks then that led to huge increases in taxes so revalidation [1:13:20] asks are you able and eligible to provide the services and to be eligible by the way you can't have been [1:13:25] convicted as a felon you must be licensed in the state here in minnesota in this case to own a business [1:13:31] you've got to pass inspections you have to avoid being fired from medicare or medicaid in the past [1:13:36] you cannot have been excluded from the programs we asked minnesota to revalidate all of the high [1:13:42] risk providers here in minnesota 14 categories 30 percent almost one in three of all the people [1:13:49] providing services in minnesota could not be revalidated i'll say that again one in three people [1:13:55] roughly who are providing services were not allowed to provide services that degree of fraud again you have [1:14:01] to purposely being averting your glance to allow that to happen that is similar to what we're seeing [1:14:06] in places like new york around social adult daycare and here in minnesota 50 percent of people in social [1:14:12] adult daycare were not allowed to provide that service i have to ask a bigger question should we [1:14:17] be using federal tax dollars to pay people to play mahjong and card games as as they hang out in clubhouses [1:14:23] for crooks said are you an issue for a separate day perhaps but one that comes to mind here the second [1:14:29] big thing we did was to start working closely with treasury and i want to applaud secretary [1:14:33] bessen for being open to thoughts and in fact proactively helping us identify the real issue [1:14:38] here which is we are catching their charmains of the world they're low-level street operators [1:14:44] they're real capos the real people at the top of the pyramid they keep getting away with this we need [1:14:48] to go upstream to capture those folks we don't want the foot soldiers we want the people who hired the [1:14:53] foot soldiers the ones who hired them the department of treasury is the raft that will take us there i'm [1:14:58] excited to announce that earlier this month cms signed a memorandum of understanding with treasury [1:15:03] that will help figure out who the real villains are to help us track where the money is going it's a [1:15:08] formal cooperation between our agencies again the president vice president have insisted on this [1:15:12] it's an all a government effort and this will allow us for the first time to collaborate in ways [1:15:17] never before possible at least at scale secretary bessen's team of forensic accountants are going to [1:15:22] help us follow the money and they're using the fincen program that he mentioned earlier the financial [1:15:26] crimes enforcement network and they're allowing us to use cross-referencing of enrollment records of [1:15:32] banking details of oig office inspector general hotline tips and the fraud prevention system in [1:15:38] general so think of the godfather the godfather you've got all these street operators doing all [1:15:43] kinds of illicit activities but the don don corleone he's actually taking the money at the top of the [1:15:49] pyramid and siphoning it off that's how the multinational criminal organizations get their money that's why they're in [1:15:55] america because during covid we introduced the possibility of the fraud in the federal government [1:15:59] at scale especially in healthcare services and they have taken advantage of it so we're moving on to [1:16:04] the big boys and the secretary just yesterday inaugurated a closer relationship with the irs [1:16:10] which is going to be a very valuable asset because if people are lowly enough to steal from the poor [1:16:17] if criminals take from the poor they're almost certainly not paying their taxes and so by passing that [1:16:23] information to the irs and the irs i have learned has 2900 gun carrying accountants but they have a [1:16:29] lot of accountants as well as the gun carrying ones they have an enforcement arm the criminal [1:16:33] investigation arm that they are working closely with us to identify individuals because remember [1:16:37] they don't these criminals they don't steal the money without putting it somewhere they don't declare [1:16:42] that money because if you steal the money you're not paying your taxes but you do sign your tax return [1:16:46] so we don't have to wait for all the things that normally we have to fulfill in order to take action [1:16:51] the irs have separate ability to enforce the law to prevent the these financial scams as well as [1:16:58] the tax evasion that takes place this connects all the different points together that allows us to [1:17:03] help figure out exactly how the money is being stolen from the poor and just recently this month we [1:17:09] connected the dots in california with hospice we have several hospices that we knew were sending the [1:17:14] same money that they were stealing to one bank account we found that bank account had many other [1:17:19] hospices that were pushing money into it as well it turned out it was one big web one network of [1:17:24] criminals and we took the whole thing down by no longer paying and as soon as these criminals stop [1:17:29] stop making money they run away this all government approach works because we have close personal [1:17:34] relationships as well as working relationships secretary bresson thank you very much for standing up for [1:17:38] the needs for us to work together as a team and breaking down siloed barriers historically that have [1:17:43] held us apart now let me introduce another good friend colin mcdonald he's the assistant attorney general for [1:17:47] fraud enforcement who's done a yeoman's job pulling together so many disparate pieces in the quilt of [1:17:52] law enforcement in this great nation colin thank you dr oz 162 days ago this team of public servants [1:18:05] announced the largest fraud takedown in minnesota history 15 new defendants charged with federal felonies [1:18:11] in schemes reaching more than 90 million in fraud we said then that those charges were just the beginning [1:18:19] of our work to root out rampant fraud in minnesota and we meant it today we're announcing just a sliver [1:18:28] of the immense work underway to restore the rule of law safeguard taxpayer dollars protect the vulnerable [1:18:36] and punish wrongdoers in minnesota just this week alone five defendants have been charged with health [1:18:43] care fraud offenses in medicaid fraud schemes involving more than 48 million dollars in intended [1:18:49] loss including 29 million in schemes that have been uncovered for the first time this follows multiple [1:18:56] defendants charged with snap benefits fraud last week and yesterday in separate ongoing criminal [1:19:03] investigations the fbi and our law enforcement partners executed numerous search warrants in a [1:19:09] coordinated regional operation the cases that we are prosecuting involve fraudsters targeting tax [1:19:16] dollars meant to help the most vulnerable americans we are also activating all enforcement tools to [1:19:25] recover stolen money last week we filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to forfeit three properties [1:19:32] in minneapolis valued at approximately five hundred and nineteen thousand dollars allegedly purchased with [1:19:38] proceeds from a fraud scheme that took money meant to feed our children and our prosecutors and agents [1:19:46] are not only charging new cases they are actively proving them in court and ensuring real consequences [1:19:54] for wrongdoers already this month two fraud defendants have been convicted at trial for their fraud [1:20:00] schemes including one for defrauding a minnesota housing program designed to help secure housing for the [1:20:07] homeless the state of minnesota was forced to shut down that program after costs skyrocketed from 2.5 million [1:20:17] to 107 million in just four years that was not supply and demand that was fraud and as dr oz mentioned that [1:20:26] program no longer exists because the fraudsters drained it dry and those homeless who needed that help no [1:20:34] longer have that program because of fraudsters as for prison sentences two days ago salim saeed was [1:20:42] sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for his role in the feeding our future fraud scheme he was responsible [1:20:50] for more than 44 million in fraud proceeds and used the money to fund his luxury lifestyle including vehicles [1:20:58] and a luxury home just this morning today saeed farah was sentenced to 78 months in prison for his role [1:21:07] in a scheme to bribe a juror during his prior fraud trial with two thousand dollars in cash delivered to [1:21:16] the jurors home that is the fraud that we are confronting in this district in the state of minnesota all told [1:21:26] over roughly the past 115 days 14 fraud defendants in minnesota have been sentenced to a combined total [1:21:33] of 988 months in prison that is over 82 years of prison time for fraud crimes in this state and that [1:21:42] does not count the 40 year sentence imposed for a feeding our futures defendant earlier this year ladies and [1:21:50] gentlemen that is the new normal and fraudsters here should know it now these results do not happen [1:21:58] automatically they require earnest dedicated experienced talented public servants to do the work [1:22:06] like all of the individuals on the stage here with me i specifically commend u.s attorney dan rosen [1:22:13] first assistant u.s attorney joe tara the prosecutors in the minnesota u.s attorney's office and the [1:22:19] prosecutors from the fraud division who have come from all over the country to do this important work [1:22:25] here in minnesota they've come from michigan missouri new jersey north carolina virginia texas and other [1:22:32] places from america to confront the fraud epidemic here in minnesota they are sacrificing time with their [1:22:39] families and children back home to do the work of justice here in minnesota we are not doing this work [1:22:47] alone we are working hand in hand with the talented and dedicated agents and analysts with the fbi [1:22:54] irsci hsi hhsoig the postal inspection service usda oig vaoig and other law enforcement partners to do [1:23:05] this work and i thank them all let me be clear this is still the beginning of our work in minnesota [1:23:14] we will be here for as long as it takes to punish the wrongdoers in minnesota to deter additional [1:23:22] criminal conduct and restore the public's confidence in the rule of law and now it's my honor to welcome [1:23:29] chairman andrew ferguson to the podium thank you colin um i think it's important to focus on something [1:23:40] colin said at the end when he listed how many agencies are involved with this there are some huge [1:23:45] names that you see on tv all the time up here that have done anti-fraud work it takes thousands of [1:23:52] prosecutors who you can't see up here but who we work with every day thousands of analysts within [1:23:58] the agencies to figure out how the fraud works to keep the money in the agency and send it to the right [1:24:04] people not the gangsters thousands of law enforcement agents not just from the fbi the fbi which has done [1:24:10] incredible work here in the united states and also has chased fraudsters who committed billions of [1:24:16] dollars worth of fraud to every corner of the planet to bring them home and face american justice [1:24:21] it's law enforcement officers from hsi from irsci from the inspector general's offices of half a [1:24:29] dozen agencies that are spending thousands and thousands of man hours to chase down the fraudsters [1:24:34] and bring them to justice president trump said he wanted a whole of government effort and he got it [1:24:40] in a way that has not been replicated before in american history the law enforcement arms of every [1:24:45] part of the government are aimed squarely at the fraudsters we've heard a lot about the specific things [1:24:51] that are being done in minnesota and around the country today i just want to step back and explain why [1:24:55] this matters every american is a victim of fraud because all of us pay into a system that is being robbed and [1:25:04] pirated by gangsters but it isn't just us as taxpayers that are victims here fraud injures real [1:25:11] people in the real world in a unique way we heard from colin and from dr oz how fraud ended a housing [1:25:17] stabilization program here that means that victims who needed help veterans who needed help with housing [1:25:23] in minnesota are going without it because fraudsters decide to use it as a piggy bank hhs uncovered [1:25:30] massive skin substitute schemes where people were performing surgeries unnecessary surgeries on [1:25:37] elderly americans in order to make billions and billions of dollars dhs uncovered fraudulent truck [1:25:44] driver licenses all throughout the country where illegal immigrants were getting truck drivers licenses and [1:25:50] then killing and maiming americans on the road fraud doesn't just hurt us all as taxpayers it hurts americans in the real world [1:25:58] every single day that is why this fight matters the second reason that this fight matters is this system [1:26:06] won't work our benefit system won't work our government won't work unless americans have renewed trust in [1:26:13] each other and in their government every morning americans wake up go to work and spend hours of their day [1:26:21] working for the government money that never enters their hands goes to the federal government to fund these [1:26:27] programs and we have all agreed all american citizens have agreed amongst each other that we're going to [1:26:32] fund these programs to help our families our friends and our neighbors in need how can we look american [1:26:39] citizens in the eye and ask them to keep paying for these programs when for four years these programs were [1:26:46] laid bare for pirates to rob to the tunes of hundreds of billions of dollars to take the money out of the [1:26:53] pockets of american citizens to take food out of the mouths of american children to live a life of luxury [1:27:00] we can't this system won't survive the only way it survives is by pursuing the vision that president trump laid out [1:27:08] when he founded this task force and the vice president has pursued with unbelievable vigor which is the fraud stops [1:27:16] money stays in the agency so that it goes to the people we've agreed we are actually going to help and when it does get out [1:27:22] we're going to help colon and cash and the teams of prosecutors and law enforcement officers from [1:27:28] every part of the federal government chase them to the ends of the earth and bring them to justice [1:27:33] if we don't do this if we don't win this fight social trust will continue to degrade in this country [1:27:41] trust and government will continue to degrade and these programs won't survive this fight is about saving [1:27:47] the american system from the worst types of actors fraudsters pirates and gangsters and restoring [1:27:53] america for americans for four years minnesota was laid bare to fraud and the federal government looked [1:28:01] the other way pirates and gangsters and thugs funded luxury lifestyles by taking money out of the pockets [1:28:08] of hard-working american citizens president trump vice president vance and secretary besant have a very clear [1:28:15] message for all of them enough is enough we are putting american citizens first just as the president [1:28:23] promised in his election and just as we have tried to do every single day with that i'll turn it back [1:28:28] over to secretary besant good and i want to thank all of you i i think we can see that the results while [1:28:40] incomplete they are have been rapid fulsome and in many cases the consequences severe so i'd be happy to [1:28:48] answer any questions uh uh throughout the last year or so uh president trump has mentioned that uh there [1:29:10] was billions and billions of dollars of fraud here but the fraud that's been uncovered so far is well [1:29:16] under that figure i think 19 billion was the total when are you going to see that really high figures [1:29:21] that's been mentioned before well as we can see the uh it's accelerating every day and whether [1:29:30] it's the 500 000 the several million it will continue to add up and as as we heard today the the real [1:29:40] tragedy is that these programs are being shut down i was at a round table here in january and i heard from [1:29:48] two parents who the program for autistic children their children needed and attended had been shut down [1:29:56] so i think that as we work on this every day that we are in uncovering more and as we heard earlier we [1:30:05] are getting the street level capos and we expect over the coming weeks and months to secure arrest [1:30:14] verdicts and recoveries from the kingpins yep yep um i'm curious if you were able to touch on why you all [1:30:35] picked saint cloud as the location today we're aware of two raids down in the twin cities um if you can [1:30:42] touch on that uh we we were invite invited here uh the local uh assistant u.s attorney uh suggested that [1:30:51] we come here the the government here is uh doing their best and again there this is uh the center of the [1:31:02] fraudulent activity is minneapolis st paul but this this is all over the the entire state the waltz [1:31:09] administration has been woefully negligent and turned a blind eye so you know every citizen of minnesota [1:31:17] is a victim every town and city the people are being defrauded thank you that was also my question are [1:31:39] any of these defendants specifically in saint cloud or any of these businesses that you're targeting can you [1:31:45] talk about any investigations that are specifically related we're not going to talk about ongoing [1:31:50] investigations but the fact that we are here the should should make you think that the greater region [1:31:58] and the greater area here that the task force is very interested in what's going on in this area [1:32:10] thank you if the administration has declared war on waste and fraud could you explain the 420 million [1:32:18] dollar overpayment for a prison in appleton minnesota when the company offered it to the state of minnesota [1:32:24] for 75 million uh yeah i i don't know any anything about that that what we are here to do is to prosecute [1:32:33] criminal fraud and any question like that that deflects away from it i think is a waste of our time thanks [1:32:40] bob nine so yesterday senate democrats put out a report that accused cms of targeting blue states [1:32:53] with this task force they pointed out some 12.4 billion dollars in fraud in florida significant fraud [1:33:02] five to ten billion a year in texas so i'm wondering if cms feels like they're holding other states red [1:33:09] states purple states to the same standards as they're holding minnesota when i speak to dr oz he [1:33:15] tells me that what's going on in his home state of florida that there is substantial uh fraud going on [1:33:22] there many many of it the offshore uh much of it in the medical equipment industry so you know again the [1:33:30] democrats having let this happen on their watch whether it's here or in their states they are trying to [1:33:37] deflect and it's going on everywhere and we're going to track them down but i can tell you that [1:33:43] the guardrails tend to be loosest in the democratic states this kind of goes along the same lines as [1:33:59] maybe some of the other questions about why you came to st cloud or minnesota but per capita i was [1:34:03] wondering because we can throw big numbers out texas big state florida big state minnesota doesn't have [1:34:08] the same population per capita has it been that much worse here than other states is that maybe why we're [1:34:13] here or can you talk a little bit about per capita where it's been the worst yeah well i i would say [1:34:18] that we are at ground zero for per capita given uh the population of minnesota and this fraud that [1:34:26] we've seen and it's ongoing and the kind of egregious nature of this and the lack of oversight the from [1:34:35] the ag's office and from the waltz administration is shocking so uh it is substantial it is [1:34:43] uh heartbreaking in in many ways because you know as we're talking about whether it's a program for [1:34:49] the homeless uh the one the where i saw the parents for autistic children and you know it is prevalent [1:34:56] so you know i would say that minnesota unfortunately because of the lack of oversight likely has as a percent [1:35:04] of the dollars one of the largest in the country um you mentioned earlier that there was uh offshore um [1:35:20] accounts being uh redistributing money could you give us a list of some of those countries [1:35:26] well i can't give a list of the the countries i i will tell you that uh there is a nexus around somalia [1:35:34] the and terrorist organizations associated there but unfortunately we at treasury follow the money [1:35:42] and we can see that many other countries are are offshore laundries and what we do at treasury is we [1:35:49] follow the money and we are attempting to recover it for the u.s government but more importantly [1:35:55] to break this recycling that seems to go on that leaves minneapolis ends up offshore and then some of [1:36:02] it finds its way back here hi uh just wondering if the fbi is planning any more uh search warrant [1:36:14] executions ahead of the election or any other activity uh i'll leave that leave that to the [1:36:18] director uh thanks secretary and the fbi will with our partners at the department of justice execute [1:36:27] search warrants based on facts and law in a timely fashion uh upon proper adjudication by the attorney [1:36:33] general's office thank you okay well i want to thank you all for coming here today we can see the [1:36:39] magnitude of the problem we can see that this task force is working on a solution i was with vice [1:36:45] president vance this morning he was unable to make it today and he and i were going through each of [1:36:52] the departments and i i will tell you that this task force is the most fulsome cross-government agency [1:37:00] that i have seen at my time in government so thank you all