Vice President JD Vance will convene the first meeting of a new White House anti-fraud task force Friday, an administration official told NBC News.
The project, which President Donald Trump announced last month in his State of the Union address, is aimed at reducing federal spending by identifying misuse of federal funds.
Vance will be joined at the meeting by Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, who will serve as the task force’s vice chair, and deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, who will serve as a senior adviser, the official said. Other Cabinet secretaries and senior administration officials are expected to attend the meeting, which will be held on the White House grounds.
“The task force is an integral part of the Trump Administration’s effort to restore the vision of America as a high-trust society,” a Vance spokesperson said in a statement. “Its work is…
THE BHI TRUST PONZI SCHEME (SOUTH AFRICA)
Date: Ongoing updates through February 2026 Perpetrator: Craig Warriner (Principal), with alleged co-conspirators
Case Description: The BHI Trust scandal remains one of South Africa’s most devastating financial crimes, involving the loss of between R1.9 billion and R3 billion. Craig Warriner, the “genius trader” behind the trust, turned himself in during late 2023, but the legal and recovery battles reached a fever pitch in 2025 and 2026. Warriner operated the trust as a textbook Ponzi scheme, utilizing “Old Boy” networks and high-profile brokers to lure in pensioners and high-net-worth individuals with promises of 20% annual returns.
In early 2025, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) faced heavy criticism for “provisionally withdrawing” charges against alleged co-conspirators Michael Haldane and Sona Pillay. However, civil recovery efforts by joint trustees have continued into 2026, aiming to claw back hundreds of millions in “fictitious profits” from early investors to redistribute to those who lost everything. The case is a masterclass in the failure of fiduciary duty; the FSCA eventually banned several advisors for up to 30 years for peddling the unlicensed scheme despite clear red flags, such as the lack of a website, the absence of regulated financial reports, and a fee structure that was triple the industry average.
Link to Original: Moneyweb – BHI Trust Scandal Deep Dive