Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Inside America’s Biggest Child-Relief Cash Grab plus New Policy Targets Illicit Funds in U.S. Banks

Transcript

Inside America’s Biggest Child-Relief Cash Grab plus New Policy Targets Illicit Funds in U.S. Banks · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Look, it's a failed country. Everybody knows that they don't
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: have electricity, they don't have money, they don't have really anything,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: they don't have food, and we're going to help them along.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: And we're going to help them because the people, because
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: number one, I want to help them, they don't want
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to on a humanitarian basis. But we have the Cuban
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: American population, much of it living in Miami and Florida.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: That's a great group of people, amazing group of people, industrious,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: just big, great Americans.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Good Friday morning. Nice to have you with us on
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: the forty seven Morning Update, and we've got two stories
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: for you. First up, finally real accountability in decades of
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: jail time for the fraudsters who were stealing money from
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: the taxpayers and claiming they were feeding children. We'll have
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: that story for you in a moment. Also, the Trump
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: administration has moved on illegal immigrants as well as cartels,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: money launders and those in China Americans with new banking
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: rules that could have a massive impact. So what does
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: that look like all that in a second, it's the
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: forty seven Morning update and it starts right now.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Story number one.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Well, finally some accountability for those that are defrauding the
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: taxpayers of the United States of America. You may remember
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: one of the most outrageous fraud scandals in modern literally
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: political history came from the so called feeding our Future
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: It is happening in Minnesota, is what they wanted you
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: to believe. They were feeding our kids. Now, the money
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: was specifically designed to feed hungry children during the pandemic.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: It never happened. Instead, it was turned into luxury cars.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I'm not talking about like BMW's, I'm not talking about Mercedes.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: I'm talking about Lamborghinis and Ferraris and Maseratis and Bentley's. Yeah,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: it all went to people that were scamming your tax dollars.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: It also went to mansions, not houses, engines, and even
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: to millions that then turned into tens of millions that
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: then turned into they say hundreds of millions in overall
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: fraud that went overseas and oversees money transfers. On top
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: of the lavish lifestyles for all the fraudsters who prosecutors
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: say stole roughly a quarter of a billion taxpayer dollars. Now,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: this is just in one city. And now finally one
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: of the central figures in the scandal is headed to
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: prison for actual, real long term jail time. We're talking
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: about decades now. Other suspects connected to the case made
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: headlines after trying to escape federal agents in a dramatic
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: and shocking way as well. Prosecutors say the Feeding Our
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Future scandal has now become the largest COVID air fraud
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: scheme that has been uncovered in the US. The nonprofit
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: was supposed to distribute these meals to children. Instead, the
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: investigators say, fake meal sites were literally created, fake attendance
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: rosters were filed. Ford's documents were then submitted, and then millions,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: and then tens and then hundreds of millions of taxpayer
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: dollars were stolen through the fraudulent reimbursement claims that went unchecked,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: even though there was massive warning signs, and even whistleblowers
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: and Democrats chose to look the other way.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Not.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: The center of the case was Amy Bach, the founder
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: and the executive director of Feeding Our Future. A federal
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: judge has finally sentenced her to more than forty one
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: years in prison after prosecutors ascribed her as the mastermind
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: behind the entire scheme. The Department of Justice argued that
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: not only did she help oversee a criminal network that
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: stole almost two hundred and fifty million dollars from taxpayers
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: under the guise of feeding hungry children, but according to
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: the prospect utters, the fraud exploded during the pandemic when
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: oversight rules were loosened and emergency money began flowing rapidly
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: from Washington, d C. Feeding our future balloon from handling
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: relatively small amounts of money into controlling hundreds of millions
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: in federal funds in an incredibly short period of time.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: And investigators say the money trail tells the entire story,
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: from the luxury homes to the expensive cars, to the
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: massive amount of jewelry and high end vacations. And then
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: you had the insane cash transfers and they didn't stay
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: in the US. Oh no, the money went overseas. Prosecutors
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: save fraudsters involved in the scheme lived lavishly while pretending
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: to operate meal programs for needy children. But what's making
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: the headlines again right now is not just a sentencing.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: It's the unbelievable links some of the suspects went in
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: order to avoid federal arrest. One of the defendants connected
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: the broader investigation, according to authorities, attempted to flee federal
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: agents by jumping, and it was caught on video from
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: a four story building during an FBI rate operation. Now,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I want you to imagine just the level of panic
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: and desperation the federal investigators were moving in. Instead of
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: surrendering peacefully, the prosecutors say, the suspect literally leaped from
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: the building the fourth floor, trying to escape capture. That
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: moment has now become symbolic of just how massive and
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: chaotic the investigation has become. Now the FBI and the
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: IRS Criminal Investigation Division, as well as Home Insecurity and
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: federal prosecutors, have spent years unraveling what they described as
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: a sprawling criminal conspiracy involving dozens upon dozens of defendants.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Because you need a lot of people to steal a
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: quarter of a billion dollars, they say. Nearly eighty people
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: have now been charged in connection with a scandal. More
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: than sixty have either pleaded guilty or have been convicted.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: And if you think the corruption stops there, well, unfortunately
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: it doesn't. During one of the earlier trials, prosecutors revealed
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: the associates tied to the case allegedly attempted to bribe
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: a juror with a bag containing more than one hundred
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: and twenty thousand dollars in cash, a literal cash bribe
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: delivered to influence the outcome of the case. That's how
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: high the stakes have become. The federal judge overseeing the
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: sentencing didn't mince words either. She described Bach as standing
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: at the center of a vortex of fraud, while prosecutors
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: push for an even longer prison sidence because of the
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: breathtaking scale of the theft and the damage done to
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: public trust. And now the fallout is well spreading even further,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: and that's actually a good thing. Federal investigators are now
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: expanding scrutiny, they stated, into additional taxpayer funded programs in
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Minnesota and beyond, including allegations tied to medicate fraud, daycare
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: assistance fraud, and many other pandemic air relief programs that
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: ballooned out of control. Investigators believe that feed our Future
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: scheme may have exposed broader weaknesses in government oversight during
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: COVID emergency spending, and Americans are asking now the obvious question,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: how did this happen? Well, we know that there were whistleblowers,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: we know that there were warning signs, and we know
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: that in liberal cities and liberal states they look the
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: other way on purpose because many of the people committing
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: the fraud were giving massive political donations to the people
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: in power. So you got to ask the question, right,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: how to hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars disappear while
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: officials fail to stop it? Follow the money? How many
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: other fraud schemes are still out there waiting to be uncovered?
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Is the other question everyone should be asking. Remember, this
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: wasn't money stolen from some anonymous account. Prosecutors say this
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: was money allocated to feed children during a national emergency
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: that they were afraid would literally die or go malnourished
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: without it. That's why this story should infuriate everyone, regardless
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: of your political ideology. You had Americans that were working,
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Americans that were paying taxes, Americans that were struggling through
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: inflation and economic hardship all during COVID, including isolation, and
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: while prosecutors say criminals were allegedly exploiting the emergency programs
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: for massive personal enrichment on a staggering scale. Now the
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: convictions are piling up and prison sentences are finally growing longer,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: and the Department of Justice is making it clear that
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the investigation is actually far from over and maybe actually
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: is just beginning now. The dramatic escape attempt or, the
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: alleged juror bribe, the luxury life lifestyles, the fake meal program,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: all of it together also paints a picture of one
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: of the most brazen fraud operations that Americans have seen
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: in decades. And what's even more important is this question
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: how many politicians knew this was happening, and how many
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: of those politicians got donations, and how many of those
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: politicians were in on it. So now the message is clear.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: Federal prosecutors are saying this, more arrests and more prosecutions
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: are coming, and what you're witnessing now may not be
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: the biggest part of this investigation at all, and that
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: should make every frauds are terrified today.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Now story number two, President.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump promised that he was going to go after
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: illegal immigrants, and one way he was going to do
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: it is make it much harder for them to operate
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: when it comes especially to their businesses in the United
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: States of America. Well, President Trump has now made good
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: on that promise and has signed a new executive order
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: that is directing federal banks making regulators, as well as
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: the Treasury Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: tighten their oversight on bank accounts, on bank loans, and
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: financial services connected to people who are in the United
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: States of America illegally. Now, this move could have enormous
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: implications for millions of people and for banks across the
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: country that want to stay in compliance. It also tells
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: a very clear message that the future of immigration enforcement
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: in America is changing now. The executive order was titled
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System, and the White House
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: says the goal is actually really simple. Stop criminal organizations,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: illegal labor networks, cartel money laundering operations, and undocumented workers
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: using fake or questionable identities from exploiting the US banking system. Now,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: this isn't just about immigration. The administration is also framing
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: this as a national security issue, a financial crime issue,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: and a taxpayer protection issue all at the same time.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: According to the White House, gaps in banking oversight have
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: unfortunately allowed drug cartels and human trafficking networks, as well
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: as Chinese link money laundering operations and illegal label brokers
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: to move billions of dollars through American financial institutions with
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: limited or no scrutiny. Now, the executive order specifically sites
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: investigations involving Mexican cartels as well as Chinese laundering operations
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: that allegedly use US based bank accounts to move enormous
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: amounts of illicit money. And now the Trump administration says
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: ignorance is no longer bliss. If you're in the banking industry,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: they say the era of don't ask questions banking is
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: over or you're going to face the consequences. Now, here's
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: what the new directive actually does do. First, the Treasury
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Department has been ordered to issue formal advisories to issue
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: formal advisories to banks warning them about the administration what
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: they describe as red flags connected to illegal immigration and
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: underground labor operations. Now, those red flags include suspicious payroll activities,
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: employers paying workers off the books, repeated cash withdrawals on
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: a regular basis tied to payroll cycles, shell companies hid
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: in the true owners of the accounts, labor trafficking indicators,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: and the use of individual tax identification numbers known as
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: iti ins in situations where lawful immigration status cannot be verified. Now,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: this has been exploited for quite some time, and they've
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: been set up this way, and Democrats knew it, but
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: they were fine with it, and so were the bank
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: because when you have billions of dollars coming in and
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: out of the system, why would you want to stop it. Well, now,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: many illegal immigrants have used these iti in numbers instead
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: of so security numbers to literally open their bank accounts
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: and file their taxes or even apply for a loan an.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Itin is issued by the IRS for tax filing purposes,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: but it is not proof of legal immigration status, and
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: the administration now says banks should view some of those
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: accounts as higher risk and subject them to enhance scrutiny.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: The second thing the order says is this, It directs
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: the regulators to rewrite parts of the Bank Secrecy Act
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: as well as the Know Your Customer rules as the
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Bank describes them. It's basically the same anti money laundering
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: regulations that banks already abide by and already use to
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: fight terrorism financing as well as organized crime. So it's
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: not as if the banks are having to learn something
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: new here. They just can't look the other way or
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: deliberately on purpose not ask questions to keep the money flowing. Now,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: the White House wants immigration status and work authorization to
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: potentially become part of the risk analysis that banks use
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: when deciding whether to open accounts, or issue loans or
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: extend credit. Not to be clear, the administration backed away
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: from one of the most aggressive earlier ideas. That was
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: a proposal that would have required banks to collect citizenship
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: documents from every customer. Banking groups, Yeah, I guess what.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Their lobbyists push back hard against the plan. They warned
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: that it could create massive compliance costs and paperwork nightmares.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: But make no mistake, disorder still dramatically changes the direction
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: of federal policy towards banking. Banks are now being told
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: they may need to consider immigration status, deportation risk, and
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: employment authorization is part of financial risk assessments. That's something
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: they did not have to do before, which allowed for
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: the massive loophole. And then that leads the third major
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: component of the President's executive order, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: They've been instructed to examine whether lenders should factor possible
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: deportation or loss of wages into the quote ability to
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: repay standards for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and other
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: lending products. Think about how significant that is. Donald Trump
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: understands that, essentially arguing that if someone is in the
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: country illegally and could be deported at any time, that
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: creates major financial risk for lenders and ultimately for the
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: banking system itself. That's something the banks didn't have to
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: deal with until now, and the White House says extending
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: credit to people who may suddenly lose employment due to
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: immigration enforcement creates what is called a structural ability to
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: repay deficiency. Now. Supporters of this move in the banking
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: industry say this is long overdue, common sense approach, and
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: they argue that American banks should know who they're doing
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: business with, and they should know if they're doing business
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: with people that are connected to the cartels or human traffickers,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: or drug trafficking or sex traffickers, or illegal border labor operations,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: as well as the underground economies that thrive when financial
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: systems ignore immigration fraud as well as identity theft concerns.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: The Treasury Secretaries Scott Bessen put it bluntly, recently when
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: he was asked about this, saying, quote, how do you
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: know your customer if you don't know if they have
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: legal or illegal status? And politically, this is exactly the
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: kind of move that Trump advocates, supporters, and voters have
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: been demanding for years. Conservatives have argued that illegal immigration
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: to sustain not just by open borders, but access to
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: American jobs, American banking, American loans, American housing, and the
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: financial system that allows people to establish lives inside this country.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: On top of all the government aid that illegal immigrants
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: can still get in this country every single day, the
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Trump administration is now clearly trying to attack the infrastructure directly. Critics,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: they're sounding the alarm. They're terrified. Immigration advocates right, those
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: advocating for illegal immigrants, and of course liberal groups say
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: this could create what they call a Massy banking event,
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: pushing millions of immigrants out of traditional banking system entirely.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: That actually may be the whole point. I don't want
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: illegal immigrants in this country taking advantage of our system,
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: and much of the money, by the way, doesn't stand America.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: It goes back to the country of origin. You may
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: remember just a few years ago, the number two timulus
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: in Mexico's economy was illegal immigrants in America sending money
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: back home. It outpaced Are you ready for this? They're
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: oil exports in Mexico. So is this a big problem?
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: You better believe it. And that's exactly why the President
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: is making this much about his larger Trump strategy on immigration,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: border enforcement, workplace enforcement, visa policy, tax policy, welfare eligibility,
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: and now financial regulation to increase pressure on illegal immigration
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: from every angle. This also leads to more self deportation.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: The message in the White House is unmistakable. If you're
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: in the United States of America legally, this administration does
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: not want you fully participating in the American financial system.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: That is the policy shift that we're witnessing in real time,
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: and based on the reaction already from the left and
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: many of those in Washington and Wall Street and the
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: immigration advocacy groups, the fight is big and they know
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: just how powerful this move is going to be.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: in depth news. Also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow