Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Federal prosecutors have charged 11 defendants in what the Department of Justice calls the largest health care fraud case by loss amount in its history, alleging a Russia-based criminal network used Texas-based durable medical equipment suppliers to submit $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims. The scheme, dubbed Operation Gold Rush, relied on stolen identities from…
The U.S. Small Business Administration on February 6, 2026, suspended 111,620 California borrowers suspected of committing over $8.6 billion in pandemic-era fraud, cutting them off from future federal lending programs. The action covers 118,489 Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan accounts and represents the latest phase of a state-by-state enforcement campaign targeting COVID-19…
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a bulletin on February 19, 2026, warning of a sharp increase in malware-enabled ATM jackpotting incidents across the United States, with the bulletin citing more than 700 incidents nationwide. Federal prosecutors have charged scores of suspects tied to an international conspiracy that has hit ATMs in multiple states, with…
American retailers face a punishing wave of product returns that, by industry estimates, can total about $850 billion annually, while fraudulent return activity has reportedly climbed to roughly 9% of return transactions. The collision of generous e-commerce return policies and increasingly organized fraud schemes is forcing major chains to rethink how they handle merchandise coming…
IDFC First Bank disclosed over the weekend that it is investigating a suspected $65 million fraud tied to accounts held by government entities, a revelation that triggered a sharp selloff in the lender’s shares and raised pointed questions about how private banks safeguard public funds in India. The bank confirmed it had filed a police…
Regulators and law enforcement are warning that criminals are turning routine deliveries into an easy way to steal money and personal data. Fake shipping alerts sent by text have become the most common text-based scam reported in the United States, and they are arriving during peak shopping periods when consumers expect a constant flow of…
A federal statute that many car buyers have never heard of gives them the right to sue a dealer who rolls back or misrepresents a vehicle’s odometer reading with the intent to defraud. Under 49 U.S. Code Section 32710, a private citizen can file a civil lawsuit and recover three times their actual damages or…
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on February 18, 2026, that it is sending a specialized “strike team” to examine California’s unemployment insurance program, targeting roughly $21 billion in outstanding federal loan debt and persistent fraud concerns. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer framed the intervention as a direct response to years of insolvency in the state’s…
Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $56.85 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging the bank damaged mortgage borrowers’ credit reports during the COVID-19 pandemic by failing to follow federal rules on forbearance reporting. The case, filed on June 18, 2020, in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, centers on the bank’s…
The Trump administration proposed banning investors who own more than 100 single-family homes from purchasing additional properties, sending a memo to congressional leaders with specifics that go well beyond the executive order signed in January 2026. The plan targets federal financing channels and government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, aiming to cut off…