Treasury Uncovers $8 Billion in Suspicious Foreign-Directed Wire Payments: Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration has identified more than $8 billion in potentially suspicious wire payments directed by foreign agents from 2021 to 2025.

The Trump administration has uncovered more than $260 billion in fraud, prevented $72 billion in fraud, and brought enforcement actions against nearly $60 billion in fraud since January 2025, Bessent said during a news conference on Oct. 30 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

He also announced that the administration’s anti-fraud investigations have led to hundreds of arrests in Minnesota.

“The days of indifference are over … wherever the money leads, the full weight of government will follow,” Bessent said.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert on Friday advising financial institutions to “be vigilant in detecting, identifying, and reporting suspicious activity” linked to certain cross-border payments involving U.S.-based money services.

In light of the $8 billion uncovered in foreign-directed wire payments, the Treasury warned financial institutions that bad actors can exploit U.S.-based money services to move funding overseas and conceal illegal activities, such as providing funds for terrorist organizations.

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The Trump administration has stopped nearly $190 million in funds linked to overseas fraud and returned more than $100 million in funds to American victims, Bessent said.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network previously issued a geographic targeting order aimed at reducing fraud in Minnesota. The order traces criminal networks that divert funding overseas and ensures that U.S. taxpayer funding does not go to terrorist groups like the Somalia-based Al Shabaab group.

“We have ongoing investigations at home and abroad into Al Shabaab, its networks, and its enablers,” Bessent said.

He said the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in this administration has also supported law enforcement efforts leading to the arrest of 115 fraudsters, 75 convictions, and nearly 3,000 subpoenas in Minnesota.

Bessent was joined Friday by FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, and Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division Colin McDonald.

The officials offered updates regarding the steps the Trump administration has taken to investigate fraud both in Minnesota and across the country, including fraud linked to foreign actors. The news conference comes seven months after the launch of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

Patel told reporters that FBI Minneapolis and other law enforcement officials executed 17 search warrants that led to a 26-count indictment as part of a fraud investigation on Oct. 29. Officials also arrested four people for allegedly intending to defraud thousands of victims for over $41 million.

McDonald announced that, in just the past week, five people were charged with healthcare fraud offenses related to Medicaid fraud schemes. The fraud allegedly involved $48 million in intended losses.

The assistant attorney general told reporters that 14 fraud defendants in Minnesota have been sentenced to a total of 988 months in prison over approximately 115 days.

Democrat lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration over its handling of fraud investigations. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) released a report on Oct. 29 accusing the Trump Administration of using Medicaid anti-fraud tools to withhold funding from states that voted against President Donald Trump in 2024.

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response before publication time.

Trump launched the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud with an executive order on March 16 to “use all available resources and authorities to fight fraud.”

Under the program, people who provide the government with tips that lead to criminal charges would receive a $10,000 to $30,000 reward from the Justice Department.