Jeanine Pirro refuses to answer questions about the Trump administration’s Reflecting Pool controversy, telling reporters she is focused on what she calls major problems facing the American people.
Pirro’s remarks have drawn attention as questions continue over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, while the Trump administration faces scrutiny over other political and economic issues. Watch the full report for Jeanine Pirro’s response and the latest developments surrounding the controversy.
#JeaninePirro #JeaninePirroNews #Trump #DonaldTrump #ReflectingPool #LincolnMemorial #TrumpNews #USNews #AmericanPolitics #PoliticalNews #BreakingNews #TrumpAdministration #WashingtonDC
~HT.318~ED.102~PR.462~GR.508~VG.HM~
Pirro’s remarks have drawn attention as questions continue over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, while the Trump administration faces scrutiny over other political and economic issues. Watch the full report for Jeanine Pirro’s response and the latest developments surrounding the controversy.
#JeaninePirro #JeaninePirroNews #Trump #DonaldTrump #ReflectingPool #LincolnMemorial #TrumpNews #USNews #AmericanPolitics #PoliticalNews #BreakingNews #TrumpAdministration #WashingtonDC
~HT.318~ED.102~PR.462~GR.508~VG.HM~
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00hamming Americans out of their life savings. And since that time, we've made enormous strides in
00:06fighting a previously unknown and unidentified network of overseas criminals who are focused
00:14on us and our money, hamming Americans out of their life savings. And since that time,
00:21we've made enormous strides in fighting a previously unknown and unidentified network
00:27of overseas criminals who are focused on us and our money. This is not a distant overseas crime story.
00:37It is an industrial extraction of American savings run by Chinese transnational criminal
00:45enterprises and platforms. It is an extraction of American savings run by these organized crime
00:54groups using United States platforms, United States banks, and United States victims as the
01:02product. This is a generational wealth transfer from Main Street America to Chinese organized crime.
01:10And it is done via a slave labor industry in the compounds. So Americans are being industrially
01:18looted. And the people doing the looting are creating factories to facilitate their con.
01:25The factories are primarily in Southeast Asia, and they are now moving across the globe because they
01:32know we're coming for them. And they are staffed with human traffic labor. These are not basement
01:38scammers. These are factories. They are compounds that have quotas, shifts. They beat the people,
01:48people working there, and they even have balance sheets. Now, President Trump made this a priority
01:54in March of 2026 when he signed an executive order, making it clear that he wanted to combat
02:01cybercrime and fraud and predatory schemes against American citizens. And he has given us the ability
02:08and the resources that we need to fight this particular kind of blight. And if you don't think this
02:15affects you a little primer, seven out of 10 adults globally have encountered a scam one way or another,
02:24they are repeatedly trying to rip you off. They are in Southeast Asia, and there are hundreds of,
02:33as I said, industrial scale scam compounds. And the estimates put their earnings at about $40 billion
02:41a year. That is $40 billion from unwitting victims. And according to the Department of State, $12 billion
02:50alone is from Americans. Yet the truth is that most victims don't even file a report. They don't know
02:58who to report the crime to, and they're either too embarrassed or too ashamed. And so we don't even
03:05know the extent of this kind of crime. But last week, I spoke to two victims of scams that we
03:13are
03:13investigating. I thought you'd be interested in the stories. One man faced an imminent foreclosure
03:21of his home after falling prey to a crypto investment scheme. He is a single father of three children,
03:28one of whom is disabled. And he struggles every month to try to make the mortgage payments and to
03:35pay for medicine. When the agents first contacted him, I believe it was the FBI, to tell him that he
03:42was in the middle of a scam. He was moments away from taking out yet another loan from his credit
03:50union.
03:50At that point, he had lost nearly all of his life savings, and he was on the brink of losing
03:56his home.
03:58Because his part-time work affected his eligibility for Social Security benefits, his young daughter,
04:05as soon as she was old enough, got herself a job at Walmart to help cover the bills.
04:11The work the DOJ has done, he said, has helped tremendously, keeping my mortgage creditors off my back
04:19until I can get my money back. It's been a hard road, and I feel, he said, that it's my
04:25fault.
04:26It was embarrassing, but it was good to hear from others that I'm not the only one.
04:32Another victim that I think you might find interesting is a medical doctor. He was recently
04:39made a widower, and he was defrauded out of a large sum of money. He is about to sell his
04:48home
04:49to move, I believe, to another state to marry the love of his life, who he met online. He believed
04:58he
04:58had found love again. His family was upset with him. They didn't want him to sell the home. They
05:04didn't want him to move. And he said that he felt that there was something wrong. But he was lonely,
05:12he said, and vulnerable and isolated until our agents intervened. Quote, it wasn't until the agent
05:20stepped in and called that I realized I was in the middle of a scam. The scammer posing as his
05:28new
05:28love interest repeatedly urged him to move their conversations onto apps like WhatsApp to avoid
05:36detection. Fortunately, he's now reunited with his family. But the interesting thing is, he said,
05:44I didn't want to believe it was a scam, because why would someone spend so much time invested in just
05:51me? Goes to show you the lengths that they go to to steal our money. Now, what have we done?
05:57We've already restrained nearly a billion dollars for victims. We have taken down more than 500 scam
06:05sites. We have charged managers and launderers. And we are working with our private industry partners.
06:11And they are Google, Meta, Tether, Coinbase. And we're not only going after the Chinese organized
06:20criminal enterprises, but the networks and the infrastructure that make them give them the
06:28ability to conduct their crime. Curious, curious that so many of these illicit operations are
06:37functioning on telegram. We demand better. So today we announce significant actions against
06:46Shinbi Guarantee Network. This is an illicit scamming marketplace. As alleged in our seizure warrant,
06:55Shinbi Marketplace has over 650,000 users. It's housed on Telegram, and it's where vendors market their
07:04services to scam ops. The Telegram channel operates primarily in Chinese. The vendors post available
07:15services on the mobile services on the Telegram channel to create, and they include creating custom
07:21scam investment websites, laundering websites, which is really washing our money, that the scammers
07:30obtain from us. And they solicit trafficking victims to work in the scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
07:39Once the scammer purchases a service from the vendor, Shinbi holds the money for the vendor until the vendor's
07:49services are complete to assure the scammers that the vendors will perform the service. It is a double
07:56protection to make sure that Americans are scammed properly and unwittingly. It's simple. They build the
08:05site. They steal the wire. They wash the money. And now we understand it, and we're going after every link
08:14in the chain, dismantling every part of the chain. So Shinbi sells tools of industrial fraud, including
08:23custom-built fake investment websites designed to look like real brokerages and hosted on our infrastructure,
08:31the infrastructure that we Americans use. But yesterday, my office issued a warrant, a signed
08:39warrant, to seize the Telegram channels where these vendors conduct their business and hawk their illicit
08:46service to scammers. We also worked with Tether to seize the cryptocurrency wallets where the scammers are
08:54sending payments to Shinbi in order to hold those payments for the vendors providing the scam
09:01infrastructure services. And yesterday, in coordination with the Department of Treasury and with
09:07assistance from Tether, we restrained in one day approximately $52 million in cryptocurrency that was
09:15in wallets, used across the Shinbi network, and used by its vendors. You will hear shortly about the Treasury
09:23Department designating Shinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization.
09:29And as a result of these actions by OFAC, all property and interest in property of these sanctioned
09:37entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of persons in the U.S. are
09:43blocked
09:43and must be reported to OFAC. So my office, along with Secret Service and FBI partners, are going to
09:51continue to fight this scourge. We're taking down the networks. It should be no surprise these networks are
09:58spreading across the globe. They're no longer just centered in Southeast Asia. They now operate in hubs
10:06across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Central America. Victims are now being trafficked from over 60
10:15countries and held in compounds where you and I don't really know what's going on in those compounds.
10:22And that's the one thing I'd like to find out going forward. So we're keeping up with them. And in
10:28fact,
10:28for the last two weeks, my strike force has deployed a team to Madagascar to assist local law enforcement in
10:35cracking down on 13 Chinese-run scam centers in that country, leading to the arrest of 500 scammers.
10:42We spent two weeks processing more than 3,200 electronic devices. You can see right there,
10:50opening our own investigation into at least 30 Chinese leaders of the scam compounds who were
10:56interestingly quickly repatriated to China by the Chinese government. They know exactly what we're
11:04doing and they're trying to keep a pace. Now, Chinese interference is not going to stop our
11:10investigation. We're going to follow the leads wherever they take us to the top of these organized
11:15crime syndicates. And so you know how hard we're working. Last week, I signed an MOU between the
11:23Scam Center Strike Force and one of our oldest allies, the United Kingdom. I met with Ambassador
11:29Christian Turner, along with the director of the National Crime Agency, as well as the chief crown
11:35prosecutor of the U.K. to discuss our agreement to partner our resources and work together. I started the
11:43strike force because I got tired of reading about Americans who did everything right, and they lost all of
11:49their life savings. I got tired of hearing about good-natured, polite Americans who engage in
11:55conversations with unknown people and feel that it's their obligation to answer questions and they get trapped in
12:02these conversations. One man was too embarrassed to tell his kids he lost everything. So he hung himself
12:10and there wasn't enough money for his kids to bury him. I do not accept this as the cost of
12:16doing
12:16digital business. We will not stop until we put an end to this. And so now I'd like to introduce
12:23the
12:24Department of Treasury OFAC director, Lisa Palacone. Lisa?
12:33Thank you so much, Judge Garrow. As the judge mentioned, today, the Office of Foreign Assets Control
12:40is sanctioning as a significant transnational criminal organization, Shenby Guarantee, which operates a large
12:48Southeast Asia-based online marketplace that connects scam center operators and other sanctioned persons
12:55with merchants that support their criminal schemes against American victims. Shenby Guarantee has processed
13:03tens of billions of dollars in recent years through its online platform. It's linked to previously
13:12sanctioned fraudsters, North Korean hackers, and other criminal syndicates. We are also sanctioning
13:19today two companies that provide material support to the operations of Shenby Guarantee and its criminal
13:26enterprise. Secretary Besson has been clear that the Treasury Department will continue to use all tools
13:33available at its disposal to crack down on financial fraud, including against the foreign actors who
13:40continue to target hardworking Americans. Today's action, which was made possible by ongoing coordination
13:48with our law enforcement partners, together with those on stage today, reflect the Treasury's efforts to
13:55disrupt a broader scam center ecosystem. Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, OFAC has taken
14:03action against over 200 individuals and entities connected with these overseas scam center operations,
14:11disrupting the facilitators, the operators, and the infrastructure that enable their criminal enterprise.
14:18We will continue to work in lockstep with our law enforcement partners, both here and abroad,
14:24to disrupt these networks and help protect the American people. Thank you.
14:30All right. And FBI Criminal Division Deputy Assistant Director Matthew Floyd.
14:41Good morning. Matthew Floyd, the Deputy Assistant Director for the White Collar Branch of the FBI's Criminal Division.
14:47I want to begin by thanking U.S. Attorney Pirro and the men and women of the U.S. Attorney's
14:52Office for the
14:53District of Columbia for their leadership of the Scam Center Strike Force and their continued partnership with the FBI.
15:00I'm proud to stand with our partners today and reaffirm the FBI's commitment to confronting
15:04this growing threat to the American people. The scale of this problem is significant. In 2025,
15:12the FBI's Criminal Complaint Center, IC3 received more than 20,000 complaints, with reported losses exceeding
15:2620.8 billion, nearly 17.7 billion,
15:32enabled fraud. But those numbers don't necessarily fully capture the impact of these crimes.
15:39Behind every one of them is a story and a victim. Someone's retirement savings, a down payment on a
15:48home, a child's college fund, money that may have taken a lifetime to save and that can disappear in just
15:56a matter of minutes. What the American public should understand is that many of these crimes are not being
16:02committed by isolated individuals. They are being driven by sophisticated transnational criminal
16:08organizations operating at scale, including scam compounds throughout Southeastern Asia. We cannot
16:16fight these organizations one victim and one fraud at a time. We have to attack the criminal enterprise
16:22behind the fraud. Our strategy is straightforward. Prevent these crimes where we can, disrupt the
16:28infrastructure that makes them possible and dismantle the criminal organizations behind them. Since its
16:35launch, the Strike Force is focused on some of the most significant scam centers in Southeast Asia, targeting
16:41these leaders, including Chinese organized crime groups operating in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. The FBI has
16:49committed substantial resources to that effort. Today, more than 13 FBI field offices are conducting strike
16:56force investigations, supported by five law enforcement attache offices in key international
17:03hotspots, such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, and Accra. But our efforts don't stop with people
17:11operating these scams. We're going after the broader criminal ecosystem. The people, the money, the
17:19technology, and the infrastructure that allow these organizations to operate and victimize Americans from
17:25thousands of miles away. The recent actions against Shinbi, led by our Chicago field office, and the
17:31deployment of our agents from our Honolulu field office to Madagascar demonstrate exactly that. The FBI's
17:39expertise from across the country to dismantle critical infrastructure supporting these scam center
17:44activity. Our international partnerships are also indispensable. They strengthen information
17:50sharing, improve coordination with foreign law enforcement, and allow our investigations to follow the
17:57criminals, their money, their money, and the infrastructures across borders. In 2025 alone, the FBI's
18:04financial fraud kill chain helped freeze approximately 679 million in fraudulent transfers. These are
18:12meaningful results, but there's another part of this fight where the public can help us.
18:17We say speed matters. If you believe you've been victimized, report it immediately. The sooner the FBI
18:25knows, the greater the opportunity to trace the funds, disrupt the transaction, identify the criminal network,
18:32and potentially prevent others from becoming victims. The FBI remains fully committed to this fight.
18:40Together with our partners here today and around the world, we will continue to disrupt these networks,
18:46protect the American people, and pursue those responsible wherever they operate all over the globe.
18:53If you believe you have been a victim, please report it to IC3.gov. That's IC3.gov. Thank you very
19:01much for your time.
19:04Thank you. And now to U.S. Special Agent in Charge, Tara McLeese, Secret Service Specialist.
19:14Thank you, ma'am. Today's announcement is the result of months of diligence and persistence by
19:20investigative teams at the Washington Field Office, the Secret Service's Criminal Investigative Division,
19:25and our private sector partners, along with the agencies standing here this morning. For years,
19:31the Jinbi Network has operated as a payment processor for criminals who cannot use legitimate payment
19:37platforms to access funds they've scammed from everyday Americans. Restraining and forfeiting their
19:44assets, coupled with the sanctions just announced, represents a significant blow to this criminal
19:50enterprise who believed distance placed them beyond the reach of United States law enforcement.
19:56As I speak, members of the Secret Service continue to trace these illicit funds, and we are working
20:02with legitimate cryptocurrency operators to find digital wallets believed to be associated with Jinbi.
20:09Jinbi was an instrument scammers used as they preyed on victims across the country. In one case, a Virginia
20:16resident reported losing nearly $800,000 after transferring funds to an individual who presented an
20:23unsolicited investment opportunity on social media. Our team was able to follow the funds as they were
20:31laundered through the Jinbi Guarantee Network. Our advice is to always be weary of unsolicited investment
20:38pitches. And while freezing $52 million is something our agencies can be proud of, it is also a stark
20:45reminder of the ability of scammers and the threat they continue to pose to the American people.
20:51The United States Secret Service has been investigating financial crimes since 1865. And as money has
20:57evolved from paper and plastic to bits and bytes, so have the criminals seeking to exploit it. We will
21:05remain on the front lines of this fight. The methods of fraud may change, but our resolve does not.
21:10I want to thank our partners at the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
21:16and the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture for their continuous collaboration
21:20and outstanding support as we work together to track down money stolen from Americans being sheltered
21:27halfway around the globe. And I want to thank Judge Pirro for her continued leadership of the Scam Center
21:32Strike Force. Under her direction, we have brought to bear the full weight of the federal government
21:37against a criminal threat many considered too complex, too dispersed and too difficult to confront.
21:47Thank you, Tara. You know, the work that we're doing couldn't be done without the Secret Service
21:55and the FBI. We work together. We partner. It's complicated. It's long. It's deep.
22:03But the impact on Americans is enormous and it will only get bigger. They are emboldened with the
22:12more money they steal from us. And we have to continue to fight this scourge. So I want to thank
22:20my
22:20partners, Secret Service, FBI, who've been with me from the beginning for their support. I also want to
22:27thank my friend Michael Heyman, who's the United States Attorney in Alaska, who we brought in to join
22:34us on these cases. And as we go forward, we'll be working with US attorneys in different parts of the
22:40country where we think the victims in that jurisdiction are impacted. And I want to thank the Treasury
22:47Department that has always maintained a coordinated collaboration with the strike force. And finally,
22:54if you know someone that thinks they've got an opportunity that's too good to be true,
23:02that they've been contacted by someone who's got the in on cryptocurrency, because none of us really
23:09understand cryptocurrency as much as we'd like to. And that includes, I'll bet everyone in this room.
23:16You've got to tell them to stop, whether it started on a mistaken phone call or WhatsApp or any of
23:26the
23:26other social media websites, a text, a wrong number. Do not send a dollar. Do not send a penny.
23:34File a report at IC3.gov. Tell your bank and tell us. Questions? Not you.
23:46How much money have you been able to repatriate or get back to the spectrum?
23:51Well, we have almost a billion dollars that we've seized, and it's now up to the courts and
23:58trying to get the money identified that can be released, and who it will be released to. That
24:05is a process that we're in the middle of right now. It's very complicated. We may need Congress
24:11to assist us with legislation on that to get the money to the victims. But we are as focused on
24:18that
24:18as we are on the Chinese transnational organizations. Yes.
24:27Why did I know that was coming? That's why I didn't call on you first.
24:32Well, first of all, I'm here to talk about one of the biggest problems that American people have
24:38right now. And I'm not going to talk about any other issue. I know you'd love to, but I'm not
24:42going there. And you know, the president has the right to decide what he wants to do. And
24:53what is important, and what he's shown us already, is that through the executive order,
24:58that this cryptocurrency fraud on Americans is a priority. There is an executive order,
25:04and there is a focus with resources for us to do it. Next, not on the pool.
25:10I have a question about this. You talked about the Telegram channel. They're sanctioning this
25:18entity in China, I believe. How easy is it for them to move to another channel or set up another
25:24operation with all these devices? It's very easy. I mean, look,
25:28all crimes are being committed in new ways, all right? They've got this figured out. And it took us
25:34a while to understand where it was coming from, who was doing it, how they were doing it. And now
25:40that
25:40we understand it, we will keep pace and we will beat them. But we're talking about slave labor.
25:46We're talking about people who are trafficked from 60 or 80 countries. They respond to a job.
25:52They literally get taken. Their passports are taken from them. They're taken to basically a slave
25:58compound. And if they don't make the quota, they're beaten or worse, or their families are threatened in
26:04other parts of the world. I mean, this is a very sophisticated organization. And what we've got
26:13to try to do, and we will, we will put an end to it. Make no mistake. Yes, sir.
26:19How many of these people have you arrested? Are any of them in leadership?
26:24Right now, this is a seizure warrant. What we've got is we've seized the monies. And that's one day.
26:32We are continuing to do this. And in Madagascar, we are continuing to investigate and work with
26:38foreign countries. Next week, you'll hear about some of the leaders, not in this particular case,
26:45that we, that we are taking and indicting.
26:48In the other case you announced yesterday of the Lone Lamb, were there other, were there
26:54other co-conspirators in that? And how was his scene of mortgage like? Do you have any
26:58details about that? Which one was the name?
27:02We're co-conspirators. Yeah. Oh, he was the last of the co-conspirators. I believe that there were
27:08other co-conspirators that we had already indicted. And I'm happy to give you those facts, specific
27:14facts, if you want them. He was the last of the group. Yeah.
27:18The challenge is that, you know, obviously, if you're looking at a criminal case, it's going to be
27:21tough to get them into custody. What challenges does that present? Are criminal cases still something
27:26there on that? Absolutely. Absolutely. And you recognize that there are challenges
27:33when we're talking about people from other parts of the world. I talked about the fact that, you know,
27:38China immediately repatriated their people. And so what we're doing is we are working with other
27:44countries. And even though we now have the MOU with the UK to work with them, there are other
27:50countries that we have met with who are willing to sign a letter of intent to work with us. And
27:55part of
27:55the focus on those letters of intent or letters of agreement, you know, whether they're with,
28:01you know, Thailand or Singapore or any of the other countries that we've dealt with,
28:06what they're willing to do is consider the immigration issue and how some of these cases
28:11need to be prioritized so we can bring these defendants to the United States to be prosecuted.
28:18But that is a problem, but it's not too big for us to solve.
28:23No, I'm not going there. Don't even go there. That's why I didn't call you. You and I have
28:26this relationship and I'm not going there. Anyone else? Yes, sir.
28:32You try on White Coast to Court on Friday, you'll be getting to take a jury there.
28:36Yes.
28:37How concerned are you about the person, about the comments you made on social media,
28:42and how confident are you that you can still get conviction?
28:44Look, it's up to a jury to decide whether or not we prove a case unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt
28:51to 12 people on a jury. They'll decide that. You know, I think that, and I have to be careful
29:00here, I think that when you have a defendant who's out there pretty much pitching to get people on the
29:05jury, that is a concern. And I think the judge made it clear that that was a concern. But I'm
29:10not
29:10going to say more than that. It's in the courts. We'll see what happens.
29:16We ask the judge to stop him from doing that. Normally, that's not something you do as a
29:22defendant is go out there and try to, you know, drum up some business or get people on the jury
29:27or,
29:28you know, but each his own, I guess. No, no, and no. Who wants to know about this?
29:38How many times do I have to say no? I am not talking about that.
29:44Anyone want to talk about this case?
29:47I want to talk about another thing.
29:49Oh, of course.
29:50So, the special main jury, you know, what do you hope a little...
29:53Oh, I can't wait to talk to you about it, but I can't. It's called 6E. You already know it,
29:58and you're trying to get me to say something. And I'm not going to.
30:01There's some stuff out there already on the record. I tried.
30:04Yeah, you tried. Okay.
30:05The Chinese government knows that these scam centers exist. You said they know exactly what they're
30:11doing and they're trying to keep the pace. Have you briefed President Trump on this,
30:15and you do encourage him to bring this up to President Xi exactly when they meet later this
30:19month?
30:19What I talked to the president about clearly is not something I'm going to discuss here at a press
30:23conference. But the president is very much aware of the scams and cryptocurrency fraud that is being
30:30literally imposed upon Americans. And he is well aware of the dangers to Americans. And you might
30:39want to speak to him about that. Thank you. No.
30:44It's always a pleasure. Thanks, guys. Anyone else? Anyone? Thank you. All right. Bye-bye.
30:59Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the One India app now.