Memorandum
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- Caroline Mercer via fox - Politics
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- Economy·5 min to read
- Re
Treasury flags $8 billion in suspicious foreign-directed wire transfers
ReTreasury flags $8 billion in suspicious foreign-directed wire transfers
The Treasury Department says it has identified more than $8 billion in potentially fraudulent cross-border payments sent through U.S. money services businesses at the direction of foreign agents, and has issued new guidance for banks and nonprofits.
The Treasury Department says it has uncovered more than $8 billion in potentially fraudulent cross-border wire payments that were sent through U.S.-based money services businesses at the direction of foreign agents. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, said the suspicious transfers were made between 2021 and 2025. The findings have led the agency to issue new guidance for banks and nonprofits that accept foreign money.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the problem is one of greed and lax oversight. "When greed meets negligence, the American people suffer," he said. Bessent said that under the leadership of President Trump and Vice President Vance, Treasury had stopped nearly $190 million in funds tied to overseas fraud and returned more than $100 million to U.S. victims. He added that Treasury is working with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud to prevent similar abuse, including in Minnesota.
Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson held a news conference in Minnesota to detail the scale of the fraud and the actions taken by the FBI in the state. The department has also executed multiple FBI search warrants and is building a large-scale indictment, according to the agency's account.
In a notice to financial institutions, the Treasury Department urged banks to scrutinize nonprofits' donors, funding streams and ties to other groups and governments. FinCEN said such arrangements could obscure the ultimate recipients of money and could be exploited for money laundering or terrorist financing. The notice describes three forms of abuse: sham charities allegedly diverting funds to illicit activity, charity-related fraud that enriches the people running a scheme, and embezzlement by insiders at legitimate organizations.
The effort follows a series of related cases. Salim Said, a co-conspirator in the Feeding Our Future case, was sentenced this week to 30 years in prison after being convicted on 21 counts in a scheme that defrauded a federal child nutrition program of $49 million. Earlier, reports and social media coverage by Nick Shirley described a network of daycare centers, including one called the "Quality Learing (sic) Center," that were allegedly fraudulent and operated mostly by Somali immigrants. Those reports prompted swift action from the administration, including the deployment of Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents to Minneapolis, a move that led to clashes between residents and federal agents and to violent unrest across the Twin Cities.
Treasury has also moved against nonprofit funding it considers suspect. In April, the IRS tightened tax-exempt reporting requirements to uncover nonprofit funding used for "extremist activity" and "hiding fraud." Ken Kies, Treasury assistant secretary and acting IRS chief counsel, said in a statement that "tax-exempt status is not immunity from scrutiny," and that organizations receiving public funds or tax-deductible donations should be prepared to show who controls the money and where it goes.
Bessent has also been connected to a Department of Justice grand jury probe into the nonprofit network of Neville Roy Singham. Sources at Treasury told Fox News Digital that Bessent met with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and discussed Singham's previously held accounts at the bank, which Singham used to distribute funds to a number of nonprofits. Fox News Digital reported that Singham, a 72-year-old American who sold his tech company for $785 million in 2017 and now lives in Shanghai, has funneled $278 million into a network of nonprofits since 2017. Those groups regularly organize and take part in anti-ICE, anti-Israel and pro-Iran demonstrations. Singham has not been charged, and the investigation in the Southern District of New York remains ongoing.
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