ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The stage still carried his title. Behind the podium at the St. Cloud Police Department on Friday, the backdrop read "The Vice President's Fraud Task Force" — but Vice President JD Vance was not in Minnesota.
Vance, who leads the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and was scheduled to headline the event, canceled his trip on Thursday night. The Wall Street Journal reported that a spokesman attributed the cancellation to a scheduling change; the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota confirmed the cancellation but did not provide a reason, according to the Star Tribune.
The announcement went ahead without him. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent led the event alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Reporters in the room included the Star Tribune, WCCO, public radio and local radio outlets.
Bessent said the Treasury Department has stopped nearly $190 million in funds tied to overseas fraud and returned more than $100 million to U.S. victims, according to a Treasury Department release. "When greed meets negligence, the American people suffer," Bessent said.
The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued two directives on Friday, according to the release. The first is an alert asking financial institutions to watch for suspicious cross-border payments involving U.S.-based money services businesses. Treasury said financial institutions reported more than $8 billion in potentially suspicious wire payments sent through U.S.-based money services businesses at the direction of foreign agents from 2021 to 2025. The second is a notice to help financial institutions detect and report suspicious activity involving charities and nonprofit organizations, describing schemes that include sham charities, fraud schemes, and embezzlement, according to the release.
The event came one day after federal and state agents searched several Minnesota businesses funded through the state's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program, which supports young people with autism and their families. The Treasury announcement did not include new charges related to Thursday's searches, and no charges had been announced as of Friday afternoon. Any allegations against an individual business remain unproven.
During questions from reporters, a Star Tribune reporter asked FBI Director Kash Patel whether there would be additional raids before the November 3 election. Patel said there would be, with the FBI working alongside its public safety partners and the Department of Justice.
A reporter also asked Bessent about the federal government's $495.6 million purchase of the former Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota, for use by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the purchase at the center of NCN's INV-352 investigation. Bessent declined to address the purchase, saying the event was not about that subject.
NCN is continuing to follow this story and will update it as officials release more information.
— National Correspondent Network
