Verdict with Ted Cruz - BONUS POD： The Fraud Epidemic： Trump's DOJ Targets Billions in Stolen Tax Dollars

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00:00:34.660 I believe that whoever was in that room and did that was a murderer.

00:00:39.140 A new podcast series, Faultline Haditha,

00:00:41.600 tells the story of a shocking crime and a cover-up

00:00:44.420 at the highest levels of the United States Marine Corps.

00:00:47.660 If you've got five players and you offer immunity to four,

00:00:50.600 you better be right about the fifth.

00:00:52.400 Because if you're not, then you've just given immunity to your killer.

00:00:55.340 Listen to Faultline Haditha on the iHeartRadio app,

00:00:58.300 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:01:28.300 an all-star cast of co-hosts as we

00:01:30.240 preview and recap every game.

00:01:32.260 Listen to NFL Daily on the

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00:01:40.180 Trevor Sykema. If you love football

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00:02:10.480 Whether you're a seasoned NFL fan or new to the game,

00:02:13.580 there's one place to keep up with all of it.

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00:02:42.980 Hey, I'm Mike Yam.

00:02:44.440 And I'm Trevor Sikama.

00:02:45.520 And together, we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show.

00:02:48.420 Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

00:02:51.320 Because if you aren't locked in with us

00:02:52.880 On the NFL Fantasy Football Show, you're already playing from behind.

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00:03:22.880 You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media.

00:03:28.380 Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one.

00:03:31.420 How do you handle this?

00:03:32.300 You just go back out to practice the next day and wait for him to mess up.

00:03:35.640 Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:03:43.520 It's going to end soon, but because they can't go on, they can't go on.

00:03:47.640 Their nation's destroyed.

00:03:49.520 But I have to say, you have a little higher, you have a higher gain.

00:03:54.280 It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done.

00:03:58.080 Remember that it's a little more.

00:04:00.100 It's even if it was, frankly, even if it was a lot more.

00:04:03.320 But that's going to come tumbling down.

00:04:05.300 That's going to be like a rocket ship in reverse.

00:04:08.220 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

00:04:12.180 Good Tuesday morning.

00:04:13.140 Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.

00:04:15.540 And we've got several big stories for you.

00:04:17.740 The Trump administration's fraud crackdown is now uncovering another massive scheme.

00:04:23.740 Twelve people are now charged an alleged $10 million California daycare fraud operation.

00:04:29.800 And the DOJ says this is just the tip of the iceberg.

00:04:33.660 They also have much bigger nationwide indictments that I'm going to break down for you as well.

00:04:39.140 And those are costing you not millions, but billions of dollars of your tax dollars going to foreign countries.

00:04:46.860 Now, I have all those details for you, and I'm going to get to that in just a moment.

00:04:51.160 The midterm elections, they're heating up.

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00:06:31.500 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.

00:06:35.080 Story number one.

00:06:36.180 Fraud is something we focus on often on this show, and it seems that we keep finding a lot more of it.

00:06:41.720 This time, even more shocking, and yet again, coming out of, yeah, California.

00:06:46.880 The Justice Department has announced that 12 individuals have now been charged in Southern California.

00:06:53.140 And what they're describing is an alleged home daycare massive fraud scheme involving more than $10 million in taxpayer-funded child care money.

00:07:03.380 And wait until you hear how prosecutors say this actually worked.

00:07:07.480 The money was supposed to help, quote, low-income families pay for child care.

00:07:12.980 Instead, the federal prosecutors now allege that millions of dollars were funneled

00:07:18.560 to bogus or fraudulent daycare operations that were claiming taxpayer money for child care

00:07:24.940 they allegedly were not actually providing.

00:07:28.080 Sound familiar?

00:07:29.100 It's awful close to what we found in Minnesota.

00:07:32.060 Now, this wasn't a tiny investigation either.

00:07:36.420 According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, more than 250 federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel participated in the coordinated takedown.

00:07:48.780 They said that all 12 defendants were arrested and authorities executed search warrants at 12 different San Diego area homes that claimed to be operating as child daycare facilities.

00:08:00.360 They were not. They were homes. Now, the details in the federal complaint are extraordinary as

00:08:06.100 well. Prosecutors say the system, well, this is how it worked. The defendants obtained California

00:08:11.640 licenses to operate home child care facilities. They then registered with organizations administering

00:08:18.700 subsidized child care for eligible families. In essence, this is another form of welfare.

00:08:26.000 Now to get paid, daycare providers were required to submit attendance records

00:08:30.060 documenting which children were actually being cared for

00:08:33.620 along with the dates and times that they were there.

00:08:37.100 That's pretty straightforward.

00:08:38.300 You take care of a child, you document it, the government reimburses you

00:08:42.760 and that's how the system works.

00:08:45.620 But prosecutors allege these defendants submitted false attendance records

00:08:49.980 claiming children were receiving daycare when they weren't.

00:08:54.120 And investigators apparently decided to test those claims against reality.

00:08:59.500 They conducted surveillance.

00:09:01.460 One defendant allegedly claimed he cared for 23 children in March of 2026 and 25 children in April.

00:09:10.020 And that he provided child care every single day during those two months.

00:09:15.400 Federal investigators say surveillance covered 57 days during that period.

00:09:19.660 And guess how many days they allegedly saw children entering or leaving the facility?

00:09:26.120 One time. One day out of 57.

00:09:30.780 And here's the remarkable part.

00:09:32.620 According to the federal complaint, that one day happened to be a day a state inspector arrived for an unannounced inspection.

00:09:41.980 Prosecutors say the children and even the daycare operator himself showed up after the inspector arrived.

00:09:49.360 That's what federal prosecutors are alleging.

00:09:52.480 Now, what's crazy is the story gets even, well, more insane from here

00:09:56.440 because investigators compared some daycare attendance claims against border crossing records.

00:10:02.880 One defendant allegedly left the United States around January the 1st of 2024

00:10:07.380 and didn't return until around January the 30th.

00:10:11.700 So that would be 30 days there out of the country.

00:10:13.900 Yet, according to the prosecutors, attendance records were still submitted claiming child care was being provided at the home during January when the person who was supposed to be watching the children was literally out of the country.

00:10:28.240 Now, the government also says eight subsequent direct deposits total nearly $15,000.

00:10:36.620 Federal investigators say each of the 12 defendants received somewhere between approximately $538,000 and $1.2 million over varying periods.

00:10:48.580 Now, several allegedly collected more than $1 million each.

00:10:52.000 altogether prosecutors say more than 10 million intended to help low-income families was diverted

00:10:58.800 through these alleged schemes now the defendants are facing wire fraud charges with some also

00:11:05.280 charged with money laundering these again are all the allegations and of course the defendants are

00:11:11.360 going to say oh no no no we're all innocent now this wasn't the only thing that the trump

00:11:17.020 administration announced this past week the justice department and small business administration

00:11:21.620 also announced the results of a nationwide enforcement surge

00:11:25.420 that was targeting fraud involving pandemic-era government loans.

00:11:30.760 Remember, there was a lot of people taking a lot of cash during the pandemic,

00:11:33.900 and it was a free-for-all to get money.

00:11:36.400 Well, now we know that between June 12th and September 1,

00:11:40.220 prosecutors say enforcement actions involved more than 160 criminal defendants

00:11:46.960 and more than 245 million in intended taxpayer losses roughly 80 defendants were newly charged

00:11:56.080 others are already pleading guilty and there is even some that have already been sentenced

00:12:01.460 now these schemes sound exactly like what we also saw recently in minnesota they're familiar

00:12:08.720 fake businesses bogus payroll numbers false revenue information and then of course identity theft used

00:12:15.680 to obtain taxpayer-backed loans.

00:12:17.780 Now, the Small Business Association says approximately 870,000 borrowers

00:12:23.700 suspected of fraud involving pandemic-era programs are being suspended

00:12:28.220 from eligibility for future federal SBA loans.

00:12:33.400 Officials say that these pandemic-level loan fraud was massive.

00:12:38.620 and they say that the suspensions now are associated with an estimated 39 billion in

00:12:46.640 suspected fraud yeah that would be your tax dollars that disappeared now the sba says that

00:12:52.460 when combined with previous actions borrowers connected to approximately 49 billion in fraud

00:12:59.520 and have now been suspended across all 50 states and you just got to think about those numbers i

00:13:05.560 just gave you we're no longer talking about somebody lying on a form to steal a few thousand

00:13:09.780 dollars we're now talking about fraud investigations reaching into the tens of billions of dollars

00:13:15.480 and the doj by the way isn't limiting this to the pandemic programs they're also saying that

00:13:21.940 health care is another enormous target now the justice department also has announced a health

00:13:27.740 care fraud crackdown involving 450 defendants and they stole allegedly more than 6.5 billion

00:13:37.500 and just this last month prosecutors in massachusetts announced another charge

00:13:42.940 connected to what the doj called operation gold rush that was an enormous health care fraud

00:13:49.100 prosecution that the doj says targeted medicare and other insurers now a foreign national this is

00:13:56.420 just one guy by the way was indicted on a money laundering conspiracy charge connected to a 1.3

00:14:04.400 billion health care fraud scheme prosecutors described the broader organization behind

00:14:09.480 operation gold rush is a foreign base let me say it again a foreign based operation from russia

00:14:17.480 and elsewhere so 1.3 billion of your dollars disappeared to russia and other countries

00:14:23.360 now again this is another example of what donald trump said he was going to do and the government's

00:14:30.040 made it clear that fraud is not victimless and a great example this goes back to our first story

00:14:35.520 when somebody allegedly invents daycare attendance and then takes child care subsidies this isn't

00:14:41.260 just government money it's your money and it's taking away from children and actually need it

00:14:45.320 and when somebody is creating a fake company and they take a fraudulent pandemic loan

00:14:49.900 in the billions and billions of dollars again that's your money and when somebody bills medicare

00:14:56.120 as the government just exposed again for services that were never provided well that money is coming

00:15:01.680 out of the program funded by american taxpayers and by the way there's a lot of american seniors

00:15:06.740 that rely on those programs and that is why donald trump has said every dollar stolen makes

00:15:13.320 legitimate programs more expensive and harder for the taxpayers to sustain them and that is exactly

00:15:20.600 why they highlight the san diego daycare case and why it's so revealing because the federal

00:15:25.940 investigators say they didn't simply look at paperwork and shrug they compared the paperwork

00:15:30.660 with surveillance they checked travel and border records they followed bank deposits they compared

00:15:36.100 what providers told the government with the investigators and what they actually saw happening

00:15:40.460 at those addresses and those alleged discrepancies they led to those 12 arrests and the big takeaway

00:15:47.460 is that the trump administration has made this a formal government-wide priority the justice

00:15:54.120 department established its national fraud enforcement division in april the doj says it

00:15:59.320 works and it supports president trump's task force to eliminate fraud and that's chaired by

00:16:04.340 the vice president jd vance now the message that the trump administration officials are trying to

00:16:09.220 end is that programs that may previously have been easy targets for fraud are now going to face

00:16:15.020 much much more as they described it aggressive scrutiny and there's also a second part of this

00:16:21.420 story and why it matters is well this reason finding fraud is one thing getting the money

00:16:26.580 back is another the sba says it has referred more than 22 billion associated with suspected

00:16:33.660 fraudulent or delinquent pandemic loans to the treasury department for collection and that is

00:16:39.320 an important moment for all of us because this is exactly what we should be demanding that every

00:16:45.600 tax dollar that was stolen be recovered now the real test is cracked down will be prosecutions

00:16:50.980 and then convictions and where the evidence proves guilt well the taxpayers we should be made whole

00:16:57.760 they probably will never be made whole for what they stole but at least it's sending a staggering

00:17:02.860 message that this government's actually looking for daycare schemes looking for medicare schemes

00:17:09.020 looking for all of the different schemes when you've got more than 160 defendants caught up in

00:17:15.620 this recent pandemic loan enforcement surge well that's 245 million in intended losses you've got

00:17:24.120 hundreds of corrupt individuals that have now been charged worth billions in just the home

00:17:29.160 health care fraud schemes and tens of billions of dollars associated with suspected pandemic

00:17:34.160 lending all that together now you understand why our deficit is such a problem and that 10 million

00:17:40.880 in southern california in the daycare case well it may be small compared to some of the other cases

00:17:46.980 but when you can look at taxpayers and say we stopped 10 million in fraud that's a good day for

00:17:52.620 everyone. So yet again, the Trump administration throwing down on fraud on multiple levels at

00:17:59.360 multiple states and multiple categories. And it's pretty clear they're just getting started.

00:18:04.700 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit

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00:18:20.660 The new NFL season is here, and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 61.

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00:18:55.880 I'm Brett Coleman.

00:18:57.160 And I'm Trevor Sikama.

00:18:58.260 If you love football and want to understand what's really happening on the field, check out our show, NFL Pro.

00:19:03.880 Every week, we break down the biggest plays, trends, and matchups using exclusive next-gen stats insights and NFL content you will not find anywhere else.

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00:19:28.820 Hey, I'm Mike Yam.

00:19:30.320 And I'm Trevor Sikama.

00:19:31.400 And together, we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show.

00:19:34.280 Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

00:19:37.140 Because if you aren't locked in with us on the NFL Fantasy Football Show,

00:19:40.320 you're already playing from behind.

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00:19:45.060 chasing another championship, we give you the advantage

00:19:47.680 and the confidence you need to make every move count.

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00:19:59.240 Hey, it's Bobby Bones.

00:20:00.820 Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Cassel

00:20:03.220 every Wednesday on our podcast,

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00:20:08.680 You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media.

00:20:14.260 Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one.

00:20:17.300 How do you handle this?

00:20:18.160 You just go back out to practice the next day and wait for him to mess up.

00:20:21.520 Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app,

00:20:25.520 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:20:28.900 Whether you're a seasoned NFL fan or new to the game,

00:20:31.900 there's one place to keep up with all of it.

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00:21:00.240 The World Cup is over, but if you caught the soccer bug and aren't sure what to do now,

00:21:03.980 check out our podcast, Big Kick Energy.

00:21:05.800 I'm Cameron Dicker, the kicker from the Los Angeles Chargers,

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00:21:12.400 So, we know a little something about kicking balls.

00:21:15.220 Each week, we'll tackle things like,

00:21:16.960 who's winning the Premier League this year?

00:21:18.920 What do you think is harder, scoring a penalty kick or scoring a field goal?

00:21:22.780 Join us each week for a quick chat with your soccer-loving bros

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00:21:27.180 Soccer. Just don't tell my coaches I said that.

00:21:30.040 Listen to Big Kick Energy on the iHeartRadio app,

00:21:32.600 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

00:21:35.800 I believe that whoever was in that room and did that was a murderer.

00:21:40.360 A new podcast series, Faultline Haditha, tells the story of a shocking crime and a cover-up at the highest levels of the United States Marine Corps.

00:21:48.860 If you've got five players and you offer immunity to four, you better be right about the fifth.

00:21:53.600 Because if you're not, then you've just given immunity to your killer.

00:21:56.580 Listen to Faultline Haditha on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 29, 2026

BONUS POD： The Fraud Epidemic： Trump's DOJ Targets Billions in Stolen Tax Dollars

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