Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Fraud Fury w 450 Cases in Just 50 Days plus U.S. Targets Brazil’s Most Dangerous Syndicates

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Fraud Fury w 450 Cases in Just 50 Days plus U.S. Targets Brazil’s Most Dangerous Syndicates · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Under the leadership of Vice President JD. Vance'm very proud
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  Speaker 1: of this. The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
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  Speaker 1: is waging war on waste, fraud, theft, and abuse like
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  Speaker 1: nobody's ever seen before. He looks like Elliott Nest. Do
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  Speaker 1: you ever see Elliot? I'm telling you. The guys that
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  Speaker 1: are rubbing their rs standing there a lot a group
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  Speaker 1: of people.
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  Speaker 2: No, it looks like a movie.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make a movie out of it, I think.
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  Speaker 1: And they're finding billions and billions and billions of dollars.
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  Speaker 1: And I just said, that's good. He said, you haven't
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  Speaker 1: seen anything yet.
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  Speaker 3: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
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  Speaker 2: Good Friday morning. Nice to have you with us on
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  Speaker 2: the forty seven Morning Updating. We've got two big stories
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  Speaker 2: for you. First up, Donald Trump's new Anti Fraud Division
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  Speaker 2: has already found more than four hundred and fifty major
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  Speaker 2: fraud cases and saving you literally billions of dollars. We
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  Speaker 2: have the details up Next, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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  Speaker 2: has just announced the designation of two powerful criminal groups
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  Speaker 2: in Brazil, which will now become terrorist organization designations, unlocking
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  Speaker 2: more aggressive means of dealing with them.
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  Speaker 4: I want to just.
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  Speaker 2: Take a moment and talk to you a little bit
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  Speaker 2: about what's happening in Israel right now. When you hear
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  Speaker 2: about Israel in the news, it's easy to think of
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  Speaker 2: headlines politics, or another conflict far away. But for families
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  Speaker 2: in Israel and Jews around the world, this is incredibly personal.
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  Speaker 2: Anti Semitic attacks in the Holy Land and across the
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  Speaker 2: globe are happening right now. Elderly Holocaust survivors who are
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  Speaker 2: endured so much already again fear for their lives. Jewish
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  Speaker 2: families are praying for the freedom to worship in safety,
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  Speaker 2: and in moments like these, your voice matters, because your
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  Speaker 2: voice can remind them that they're not alone. The International
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  Speaker 2: Fellowship of Christians and Jews and inviting you to leave
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  Speaker 2: a personal prayer or message of encouragement that will be
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  Speaker 2: delivered directly to someone in Israel who needs hope right now,
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  Speaker 2: not filtered through the media, not lost online, but personally
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  Speaker 2: delivered a simple prayer, a few heartfelt words they can
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  Speaker 2: lift the spirit of someone facing fear, uncertainty, and isolation.
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  Speaker 2: This is more than support. This is standing with Israel
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  Speaker 2: when it matters the most. Go to PREYIFCJ dot org.
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  Speaker 2: That's prey pr ay IFCJ dot org, and you can
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  Speaker 2: submit your prayer today. That's prey if CJ dot org.
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  Speaker 2: It's a forty seven morning update and it starts right.
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  Speaker 3: Now, story number one.
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  Speaker 2: If you want a snapshot of what the Trump administration
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  Speaker 2: means when they say they're waging a war on fraud,
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  Speaker 2: look no further than the numbers released by the Assistant
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  Speaker 2: Attorney General for Fraud Enforcement, Colin McDonald, speaking at a
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  Speaker 2: national anti fraud roundtable led by the Vice President JD. Vance,
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  Speaker 2: McDonald announced that the newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division
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  Speaker 2: has already recorded more than four hundred and fifty major
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  Speaker 2: fraud enforcement actions in its first fifty days.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: Those actions include criminal charges, convictions, already getting guilty pleas,
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  Speaker 2: and sentencing actions targeting individuals accused of stealing millions and
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  Speaker 2: millions of taxpayer dollars. Now, this is an astonishing pace
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  Speaker 2: for a division that essentially didn't exist just a few
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  Speaker 2: months ago.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 2: The National Fraud Enforcement Division was created after Acting Attorney
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  Speaker 2: General Todd Blanche ordered the Department of Justice to build
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  Speaker 2: a dedicated nationwide task force that was focused on fraud
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  Speaker 2: involving taxpayer funded programs. The mission is incredibly straightforward, and
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  Speaker 2: in government, let's be clear, you don't get that very often.
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  Speaker 2: Their job find the people stealing from government programs and
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  Speaker 2: then prosecute them aggressively. The Trump administration has made fraud
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  Speaker 2: one of its signature issues, and they're now arguing that
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  Speaker 2: not only are millions, but actually billions of taxpayer dollars
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  Speaker 2: have been lost through abuse of Medicaid, pandemic relief programs,
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  Speaker 2: the welfare system in general, and also many other federally
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  Speaker 2: funded initiatives. The Vice President has repeatedly described the efforts
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  Speaker 2: as a national campaign to root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
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  Speaker 2: I want you to listen to what McDonald had to
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  Speaker 2: say about what they've uncovered in such a short period
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  Speaker 2: of time.
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  Speaker 4: The scope of this is larger than ever. As mister
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  Speaker 4: blanche there in that clip said, we are now putting
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  Speaker 4: the necessary resources behind the fraud crisis that we're facing
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  Speaker 4: in the country, and we're off to a great start.
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  Speaker 4: We're over a four hundred and fifty major fraud of
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  Speaker 4: events at this point, just in the first fifty two
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  Speaker 4: days of this Fraud division, and we're just getting started.
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  Speaker 4: Do you have cooperation from the states in general? So
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  Speaker 4: state cooperation is essential to what we're trying to achieve
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  Speaker 4: here data and that's because really the problem is national
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  Speaker 4: and the front line of this battle is really the
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  Speaker 4: state prosecutor units. Some states are doing very well in
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  Speaker 4: that regard, and we have great cooperation from them. Other
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  Speaker 4: states can kick up their support for this and make
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  Speaker 4: sure that the resources that the federal government even puts
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  Speaker 4: into their prosecutorial programs, that those resources are being used
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  Speaker 4: to the maximum extent possible to make sure that as
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  Speaker 4: many fraudsters as possible are put behind bars for their conduct.
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  Speaker 1: Now, let's just.
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  Speaker 2: Talk about what they have found in just the first
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  Speaker 2: fifty days. Among the examples being highlighted is charges against
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  Speaker 2: fifteen defendants tied to major medicaid fraud schemes in Minnesota.
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  Speaker 2: The prosecution of a shocking six hundred and fifty million
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  Speaker 2: dollar medicaid related sober homes fraud scheme in Arizona. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: it's just in Arizona. Six hundred and fifty million dollars,
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  Speaker 2: a guilty plea connected to a two hundred and seventy
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  Speaker 2: million dollar medicaid fraud operation in California, numerous convictions and
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  Speaker 2: sentencing actions involving misuse of taxpayer funded programs on top
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  Speaker 2: of that. Now, what McDonald's said is the message is
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  Speaker 2: very simple. Every dollar is stolen from programs designed to
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  Speaker 2: help the elderly, the poor, the sick and vulnerable in
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  Speaker 2: this country is a dollar deliberately stolen from the American taxpayers. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the first week alone was massive. The administration now has
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  Speaker 2: disclosed the early results of what they did. Just in
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  Speaker 2: the very first week of the operation, the division announced
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  Speaker 2: actions involving more than three hundred and forty million dollars
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  Speaker 2: in fraud schemes, including major cases involving pandemic relief fraud,
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  Speaker 2: Medicare fraud, and unemployment fraud. Federal prosecutors also secured millions
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  Speaker 2: of dollars in restitution orders aimed at recovering taxpayer dollars.
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  Speaker 2: One of the most high profile cases you may remember
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  Speaker 2: involved the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal in Minnesota, where
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  Speaker 2: hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars intended to feed children
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  Speaker 2: that were going hungry during the pandemic were diverted into
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  Speaker 2: luxury purchases overseas, real estate, and personal spending by the fraudsters.
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  Speaker 2: The Trump Administration's argument is that fraud isn't a victimless crime.
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  Speaker 2: When someone steals from Medicaid, Medicare, pandemic funds, nutrition programs,
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  Speaker 2: unemployment system, taxpayers ultimately are footing the bill. And that's
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  Speaker 2: why McDonald said, the Division is treating every fraud case
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  Speaker 2: as a direct attack on the American people.
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  Speaker 3: Next story number two.
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  Speaker 2: With so much focus being on what's happening between the
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  Speaker 2: United States and Iran, you may think that that's the
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  Speaker 2: only news. Well, guess what when it comes to the
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  Speaker 2: Trump administration, not even close. We now have learned that
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  Speaker 2: the Trump administration is dramatically expanding its campaign against transnational
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  Speaker 2: criminal organizations, announcing that two of Brazil's most powerful gangs
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  Speaker 2: will soon be designated as foreign terrorists organizations. Now, this
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  Speaker 2: latest move comes after the administration already designated a number
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  Speaker 2: of major cartels and gangs across Latin America as terrorist organizations,
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  Speaker 2: including Venezuela's Trade Dennaragua, El Salvador's MS thirteen, and several
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  Speaker 2: Mexican powerful cartels tied to drug trafficking, human smuggling, and
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  Speaker 2: violence directed at the United States. The Administration has argued
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  Speaker 2: that these organizations operate more like international terist networks than
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  Speaker 2: traditional criminal enterprises because they control territory, they intimidate populations,
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  Speaker 2: they corrupt governments, and then they threaten US national security.
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  Speaker 2: Now the administration is turning its attention to Brazil, the
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  Speaker 2: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing that the United States
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  Speaker 2: will designate Brazil's two largest criminal organizations, commonly known as PCC,
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  Speaker 2: as well as the Commando Vermelho known as the Red Command,
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  Speaker 2: as foreign terrast organizations beginning June fifth. The State Department
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  Speaker 2: has already classified both groups a specially Designated Global Terrorists,
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  Speaker 2: immediately restricting their access to the international financial system. Now
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  Speaker 2: you may ask this question, who are these groups? And
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  Speaker 2: it's a fair question to ask. Most Americans have never
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  Speaker 2: heard of PCC or the Commando Vermeljo, but these organizations
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  Speaker 2: are among the most powerful criminal networks in the Western Hemisphere. PCC,
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  Speaker 2: for example, was born inside Brazilian prisons in the nineteen
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  Speaker 2: nineties and then has evolved into a massive criminal empire.
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  Speaker 2: It involves, of course, drug trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, extortion,
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  Speaker 2: and then even prison control. Now Comando Vermeljo emerged from
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  Speaker 2: Rio de Janeiro's prison system and became one of the
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  Speaker 2: most dominant gangs, controlling large sections of Brazil and their
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  Speaker 2: drug routes. Together, authorities estimate they have tens of thousands
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  Speaker 2: of members and associates operating throughout South America and then
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  Speaker 2: of course far beyond that. Now, according to Secretary Rubio,
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  Speaker 2: these organizations now have criminal networks that stretch across Latin America,
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  Speaker 2: and now they reach into the United States of America itself.
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  Speaker 2: He described them as among the most violent criminal organizations
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  Speaker 2: in Brazil and a direct threat to American security interests.
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  Speaker 2: Now this matters. For this reason, the designation is more
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  Speaker 2: than just symbolic, because once a group is formally designated
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  Speaker 2: as a foreign terrast organization, the US government then gains
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  Speaker 2: powerful new tools and assets can be frozen, the financial
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  Speaker 2: transactions can be blocked, anyone providing material support can face
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  Speaker 2: major criminal penalties, and then you've got corruption in banks
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  Speaker 2: and businesses and other individuals worldwide. Well, now all of
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  Speaker 2: a sudden, they suddenly face enormous legal risk if they
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  Speaker 2: are connected to the organization in any way. Now, the
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  Speaker 2: administration believes that these tools can be used to attack
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  Speaker 2: criminal organizations at their financial core instead of simply arresting
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  Speaker 2: low level operatives. The strategy also reflects a much broader
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  Speaker 2: Trump administration view that the threats posed by modern cartels
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  Speaker 2: and gangs are no longer merely law enforcement issue, instead
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  Speaker 2: their national security threats, requiring counter terrorism authority. Now, Brazil
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  Speaker 2: pushed back heavy on this because they're afraid that America
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  Speaker 2: may actually use military force to do exactly what we
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  Speaker 2: witnessed with Maduro. It's not surprising that they're saying no
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  Speaker 2: to this. The President of Brazil has resisted the designations
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  Speaker 2: for more than a year, arguing Brazil's laws treat these
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  Speaker 2: groups as criminal organizations rather than terrorist groups. Brazilian officials,
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  Speaker 2: and many of them are very corrupt have They also
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  Speaker 2: expressed open concerns that the designation could create diplomatic tensions,
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  Speaker 2: financial consequences for the country, and even serve as justification
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  Speaker 2: for future foreign intervention. Brazilian officials say they welcome cooperation
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  Speaker 2: and fighting money laundering or arms trafficking or organized crime,
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  Speaker 2: but they oppose labeling domestic gangs as terrorists organizations. Now
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  Speaker 2: we know that Brazil's government is extremely corrupt, we know
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  Speaker 2: that the tentacles of these two terrorist organizations are extremely
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  Speaker 2: deep and at the highest levels of Brazilian's government, which
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  Speaker 2: is exactly why the President made this decision. The announcement
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  Speaker 2: signals that the Trump administration is continuing to redefine the
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  Speaker 2: war on organized crime. Terrorists. Organizations were generally reserved for
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  Speaker 2: well ideological groups like al Qaeda or ISIS, but today
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  Speaker 2: the administration is applying those same authorities to these criminal
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  Speaker 2: enterprises that generate billions through narcotics, human trafficking, extortion, violence,
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  Speaker 2: and sex trafficking as well. And the message from Washington
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  Speaker 2: is this, If a carteler gang has the power to
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  Speaker 2: destabilize governments, flood American communities with drugs, terrorized populations, and
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  Speaker 2: threaten US interests, the Administration believes it should be treated
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  Speaker 2: like the terrorist organization, which they really are. And that's
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  Speaker 2: why Donald Trump is moving forward on this. It's also
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  Speaker 2: sitting a very clear message to Mexico. You'd better get
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  Speaker 2: in line and start doing everything you can to go
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  Speaker 2: after the cartels, or we'll do it for you.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
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  Speaker 3: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: in depth news. Also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast,
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: and we will see you back here tomorrow