Verdict with Ted Cruz - BONUS POD： Now Playing-The Case of California's Disappearing Billions

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

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00:00:04.820 We love clean, beautiful coal, don't we, Doug?

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00:00:32.040 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update

00:00:34.620 with Ben Ferguson.

00:00:36.020 Good Thursday morning.

00:00:37.080 Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update,

00:00:39.760 and we've got one major story for you.

00:00:41.920 If you thought the fraud that was found in Minnesota is bad,

00:00:45.440 apparently we've seen nothing yet.

00:00:47.840 Take a look at California,

00:00:49.480 and it's truly unbelievable what they're finding out there.

00:00:53.460 But first, I want to tell you about our friends

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00:02:45.420 It's the 47 Morning Update,

00:02:47.620 and it starts right now.

00:02:49.160 Story number one.

00:02:50.500 Massive fraud found in California,

00:02:53.400 and many, including Donald Trump,

00:02:54.900 are warning that it may be bigger

00:02:56.540 than what we found in Minnesota.

00:02:59.200 Millions of your tax dollars were defrauded,

00:03:02.980 in fact, by just one man.

00:03:05.080 The money was meant to feed the homeless.

00:03:07.320 I want you to hear how Fox News talked about this one individual

00:03:12.080 that defrauded Americans of more than $23 million.

00:03:18.180 I'll say it again.

00:03:19.880 This is just one person.

00:03:22.980 Listen to the report from Fox News.

00:03:25.440 Agents moving in today,

00:03:26.900 busting a man accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars

00:03:30.320 meant for the homeless

00:03:31.400 and spending that cash on a lavish lifestyle.

00:03:34.640 Of course, Bond and Matt Finn is live in Los Angeles for you.

00:03:38.440 And, you know, folks were warned about this,

00:03:42.000 and lo and behold, here it is.

00:03:43.820 Yeah, this is it behind me, John.

00:03:45.320 The feds say this man was contracted

00:03:47.920 with the city and county of Los Angeles

00:03:50.280 to house and feed up to 600 homeless people,

00:03:53.640 but instead he was misusing tens of millions of dollars

00:03:56.920 to live a luxurious life.

00:04:00.020 Exclusive Fox video shows the feds' early morning bust

00:04:03.240 here at the L.A. mansion.

00:04:04.780 42-year-old Alexander Sucre was arrested.

00:04:07.940 Sucre's $125,000 Land Rover

00:04:10.460 was also seized by law enforcement.

00:04:13.020 The feds say Sucre defrauded the city and county of L.A.

00:04:15.480 out of $23 million in taxpayer dollars

00:04:18.120 for not only his mansion and car,

00:04:20.280 but a second home in Greece,

00:04:22.080 luxury vacations, designer clothes,

00:04:24.500 and private schools.

00:04:25.740 He was living the high life

00:04:27.060 while the people suffering homeless on the streets

00:04:31.540 with no shelter, no food.

00:04:33.800 They're living out in the streets.

00:04:35.220 People are literally dying.

00:04:36.920 And this guy is out vacationing,

00:04:38.860 buying homes, buying Range Rovers,

00:04:40.760 and going shopping.

00:04:42.120 Prosecutors say Sucre was supposed to provide

00:04:44.100 three nutritional meals a day to the homeless,

00:04:46.460 but during one inspection,

00:04:47.800 Sucre only had canned beans and ramen noodles on hand.

00:04:50.700 The feds say Sucre lied about various aspects

00:04:54.200 of abundant blessings,

00:04:55.960 including fake vendors, facilities,

00:04:58.180 and the homeless actually getting meals.

00:05:00.140 The U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A. says

00:05:01.740 they are actively investigating

00:05:03.260 at least 12 other similar fraud cases

00:05:05.660 here in California.

00:05:07.020 First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Assaylee says

00:05:08.920 there's a tremendous amount of fraud in this state

00:05:11.080 and that today's bust of one man

00:05:12.980 who misused $23 million alone

00:05:15.240 may show how little oversight there is.

00:05:17.760 California was pushing this money out quickly.

00:05:20.100 A lot of money went out the door

00:05:22.720 with, frankly, very little vetting,

00:05:25.720 very little checks and balances,

00:05:27.620 and he's one of the individuals that got it.

00:05:30.380 The suspect is scheduled to make

00:05:32.140 his first appearance later today.

00:05:33.620 He faces up to 20 years if convicted on a federal case.

00:05:36.920 The local district attorney is also planning

00:05:38.740 on prosecuting John.

00:05:40.220 Now, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

00:05:43.680 In fact, we now have the same man, Nick Shirley,

00:05:46.640 who did the incredible job

00:05:48.980 of discovering massive fraud in Minneapolis

00:05:51.980 and exposing it to the world

00:05:53.600 that has landed in California.

00:05:55.900 And he's now saying that's even worse

00:05:57.860 than anyone else could have imagined.

00:05:59.800 Before I get to that, though,

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00:07:18.520 All right, take a listen

00:07:19.700 to what Nick Shirley said

00:07:21.940 about arriving in California.

00:07:24.040 And what he says is,

00:07:25.520 well, incredible amounts of fraud

00:07:27.340 that may be much bigger

00:07:29.220 than what he exposed in Minnesota.

00:07:31.940 Oh, there's massive fraud in California.

00:07:33.820 I mean, the homelessness

00:07:34.940 has just increased

00:07:36.220 as they receive more money.

00:07:38.240 And that's just one part of it.

00:07:39.620 And like you talked about

00:07:40.280 the light rail and everything like that.

00:07:42.260 The fraud is like crazy in California.

00:07:45.040 And they have the highest taxes.

00:07:46.620 Yeah, they want more.

00:07:48.980 Nick, has anybody approached you

00:07:50.580 about this thing?

00:07:51.360 I tweeted it about it.

00:07:52.180 I had never heard about it.

00:07:53.140 But these guys educated me

00:07:54.900 on it called QUITAN,

00:07:56.020 which is this framework

00:07:58.060 where you can actually sue

00:08:00.000 on behalf of the state

00:08:01.560 and on behalf of taxpayers.

00:08:03.560 Has anybody approached you

00:08:04.820 about thinking about

00:08:06.240 using all of the information

00:08:07.580 that you've garnered

00:08:08.300 to try to launch

00:08:09.320 some of these lawsuits or no?

00:08:11.620 Yeah, I actually had somebody

00:08:12.400 reach out to me

00:08:13.040 the other day about it.

00:08:13.840 So I'm going to actually

00:08:14.660 hop on a phone call with that guy.

00:08:16.240 Yeah, also, as I understand it,

00:08:18.060 some of these whistleblower laws

00:08:19.640 reward the whistleblower

00:08:20.800 with something like 20 to 30%

00:08:22.600 of amounts.

00:08:24.100 Up to 50% in some cases.

00:08:25.480 Yeah, I don't know

00:08:26.760 if it's like fines

00:08:27.680 or it's amounts

00:08:28.460 that are recaptured.

00:08:29.860 Recaptured, yeah.

00:08:30.580 But, I don't know, Nick,

00:08:31.700 you could become a billionaire here

00:08:32.900 just with all the billions

00:08:33.780 you've exposed.

00:08:35.260 I know, right?

00:08:36.220 I got to sit down

00:08:37.460 and figure it out.

00:08:38.060 I know that's not

00:08:38.540 why you're in it, but I mean...

00:08:39.760 You'd be the most well-loved

00:08:40.700 billionaire in America

00:08:41.700 if you did.

00:08:42.040 Absolutely.

00:08:42.700 Well, the way to do it is,

00:08:43.860 you know, since you're drafting

00:08:45.120 off of these other news reports,

00:08:46.620 is to set up your own tip line.

00:08:48.100 So, Nick, what's your website?

00:08:49.660 Or do you have a website

00:08:50.460 where people can donate?

00:08:51.380 And do you have a tip line?

00:08:52.960 Because you wouldn't get

00:08:54.260 the Whistleblow Awards

00:08:55.980 for the stuff Fox 9's

00:08:57.400 been doing for a decade,

00:08:58.560 but for the next one, you could.

00:09:00.720 So, what is your website

00:09:01.920 where people can donate, Nick?

00:09:03.240 Yeah, everything just

00:09:04.320 on social media.

00:09:05.360 So, they can message me

00:09:06.460 on any platform.

00:09:07.840 I should probably

00:09:08.320 get a website going.

00:09:11.640 Nick, what's your social media handle

00:09:14.200 where people can DM you

00:09:15.260 and donate?

00:09:16.160 Yeah, it's just Nick Shirley.

00:09:17.360 And if you go on X,

00:09:18.300 I do have my tip section open.

00:09:19.980 So, if you would like

00:09:20.520 to donate there,

00:09:21.380 that gives them all the,

00:09:22.620 whether it be Venmo,

00:09:23.900 Cash App, Crypto,

00:09:25.480 you can all do it right there.

00:09:26.940 So, X-Doc.

00:09:27.680 By the way, I love

00:09:29.020 that this guy

00:09:30.020 is doing this on his own.

00:09:31.840 Like, he's just like,

00:09:32.880 yeah, if you want to support,

00:09:34.000 go for it.

00:09:34.880 I'm just going to be out here

00:09:35.960 exposing all this

00:09:37.000 waste, fraud, and abuse.

00:09:38.380 Like, that's what I'm doing

00:09:39.380 with my life now.

00:09:40.760 I'm not afraid.

00:09:41.640 Like, Nick Shirley

00:09:42.680 was in San Diego.

00:09:45.020 He now estimates

00:09:46.060 billions of dollars

00:09:47.380 in fraud

00:09:47.880 under Gavin Newsom's

00:09:48.780 leadership.

00:09:49.580 And they want

00:09:50.860 more money.

00:09:51.640 They want to raise taxes

00:09:52.760 even higher

00:09:54.140 than they are

00:09:55.340 right now.

00:09:56.720 There's also

00:09:57.540 Benny Johnson

00:09:58.320 who says his team

00:09:59.360 is traveling

00:09:59.940 to the fraud capital

00:10:01.220 of the world.

00:10:01.960 He's now saying

00:10:02.600 it's California.

00:10:03.920 They say the fraud

00:10:04.720 uncovered in Minnesota

00:10:05.540 was very bad

00:10:07.520 and led to the destruction

00:10:08.980 of Tim Walts' career.

00:10:10.880 But Gavin Newsom's

00:10:11.820 California

00:10:12.320 is far worse.

00:10:13.460 Saying the American

00:10:14.100 taxpayer needs

00:10:14.960 first-hand

00:10:15.720 to understand

00:10:17.040 how criminal

00:10:17.960 California's fraud

00:10:19.120 is robbing

00:10:19.920 our nation blind.

00:10:21.560 He said,

00:10:22.260 here's just a glimpse

00:10:23.160 of what we already know.

00:10:24.640 A state auditor

00:10:25.360 in California

00:10:26.080 found,

00:10:26.740 ready for this,

00:10:28.060 $70 billion.

00:10:30.440 Think about that number.

00:10:31.740 $70 billion

00:10:32.600 in taxpayer funds

00:10:33.860 that have been lost.

00:10:35.120 Like, they just disappeared.

00:10:36.300 No accounting

00:10:36.820 for them whatsoever.

00:10:38.460 $24 billion

00:10:39.900 in California loans

00:10:41.040 spent on

00:10:41.560 non-existent

00:10:43.020 homelessness programs.

00:10:45.040 That means

00:10:45.680 someone stole

00:10:46.400 $24 billion.

00:10:48.280 $18 billion

00:10:49.840 poured into

00:10:51.340 non-existent

00:10:52.260 high-speed rail.

00:10:53.880 You heard Nick

00:10:54.360 talk about that

00:10:55.020 a second ago.

00:10:56.160 $32 billion

00:10:57.260 for COVID relief funds

00:10:59.280 that have been stolen.

00:11:00.980 $2.5 billion,

00:11:02.920 ready for this word,

00:11:04.180 lost to snap fraud.

00:11:06.540 billions spent on

00:11:08.660 rebuilding

00:11:09.260 after the Palisade fires,

00:11:12.020 but no homes

00:11:12.980 have been built.

00:11:14.560 That is just some

00:11:15.840 of what's being

00:11:16.660 exposed right now.

00:11:18.120 This is all

00:11:19.060 happening in

00:11:20.060 California.

00:11:21.280 It's truly

00:11:22.380 incredible.

00:11:23.880 But California

00:11:24.580 is the fraud capital 0.55

00:11:25.620 of America,

00:11:26.420 and the taxpayer fund

00:11:28.120 and non-profits

00:11:28.880 there are embezzling

00:11:30.520 our money

00:11:31.120 by the billions,

00:11:32.100 and the governor

00:11:32.660 is allowing it to happen.

00:11:34.220 Thank you for listening

00:11:35.240 to the 47 Morning Update

00:11:36.960 with Ben Ferguson.

00:11:38.620 Please make sure

00:11:39.500 you hit subscribe

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00:11:41.880 to this podcast

00:11:42.720 right now,

00:11:43.660 and for more

00:11:44.440 in-depth news,

00:11:45.640 also subscribe

00:11:46.460 to the Ben Ferguson

00:11:47.460 podcast,

00:11:48.340 and we will see you

00:11:49.260 back here tomorrow.

00:11:51.200 This is an

00:11:51.720 iHeart Podcast.

00:11:53.740 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - February 12, 2026

BONUS POD： Now Playing-The Case of California's Disappearing Billions

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