Authorities shut down 3 illegal call centers tied to gold bar scam
John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County speaks during a press conference at the Montgomery County Police Department in Gaithersburg, Md., Feb. 2, 2026. (Montgomery County Police Department)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Maryland and federal authorities announced Monday that they have shut down three Indian call centers linked to a gold bar scam that stole millions of dollars from American consumers.
Authorities said the operation netted almost $50 million from more than 600 victims across the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency and gold bar schemes.
The six alleged leaders of the scheme were also arrested, authorities said.
An ABC News investigation previously found that as the value of gold surged, grifters posing as federal agents convinced people — mostly older Americans — to convert their life savings into gold bars.
As part of the scheme, scammers sent “couriers” to pick up the bars in person to allegedly keep them in a secure location.
Last year, ABC News interviewed a suspected courier from jail as he faced charges in two states for his alleged involvement in the scam. He claimed he was hired by an individual in India and paid between $800 and $4,000 per job to pick up packages, some of which contained gold bars.
John McCarthy, the Maryland state attorney for Montgomery County, announced Monday that his office had indicted 10 couriers accused of collecting money from victims, and said that several of those cases have already resulted in convictions.
“They’re targeting people who have retirement money, who have pensions, who have investments, who’ve maybe sold their homes and have that money in reserve,” McCarthy said.
In this image released by the Walton County Sheriffs Office, law enforment vehicles are shown at the scene of a stabbing investigation at Walton Middle School in Defuniak, Fla., on March 24, 2026. (Walton County Sheriff’s Office, Florida)
(DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla.) — Two students and one adult were hurt in a stabbing at a middle school in Florida on Tuesday, authorities said.
The incident was reported at 7:22 a.m. at Walton Middle School in DeFuniak Springs, about 45 miles north of Destin, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said.
At 7:30 a.m., the suspect — a student at the school — was detained one block away, according to the sheriff’s office.
The conditions of the adult and two students were not immediately clear.
The school has canceled classes for the day, the sheriff said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Bill Gates watches the Women’s Singles Final at the 2026 Australian Open, January 31, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Microsoft founder Bill Gates is speaking out publicly for the first time since the latest release by the Department of Justice of nearly three million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, saying he was “foolish” to spend time with the late convicted sex predator.
In an interview with 9News Australia, Gates denied any wrongdoing involving Epstein, including unfounded allegations made against the tech billionaire in draft emails Epstein wrote in 2013 that were included in the latest tranche of documents released by the DOJ on Friday.
“Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. Ah, that email was never sent. The email is false,” Gates said in the interview, conducted in Australia and broadcast on Wednesday. “So, I don’t know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me that every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize I did that.”
Gates, 70, spoke out after his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, said in an interview with NPR’s Wild Card podcast, set to air on Thursday, that Bill Gates and other wealthy men named in the Epstein files should answer questions about their association with him.
“Whatever questions remain there … those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me,” French Gates said in an excerpt of the interview released by NPR.
French Gates, who finalized her divorce from Bill Gates in 2021, said the details in the latest tranche of files made public brought back memories of “some very, very painful times” in her marriage. She has previously said that her ex-husband’s association with Epstein was one factor of many that led her to seek their divorce.
In the interview with 9News Australia, Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011, which was after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Gates said he thought Epstein could introduce him to other wealthy people who might donate to the Gates Foundation, which has donated billions of dollars globally to “improve health, alleviate extreme poverty, and advance gender equality,” according to its website.
“It’s factually true that I was only at dinners. I never went to the island, I never met any women,” Gates said of his association with Epstein, referring to the latter’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein allegedly sexually exploited dozens of young women and girls. “And the more that comes out, the more clear it will be that, although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.”
“The focus was always he [Epstein] knew a lot of very rich people and he was always saying he could get them to give money to global health,” Gates added. “You know, in retrospect, that was a dead end, and I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.”
Asked by ABC about the latest DOJ disclosure in the Epstein case, a spokesperson for Bill Gates said, “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
Gates was in Australia partly for vacation and partly on behalf of the Gates Foundation to encourage the Australian government to commit more funds to eradicating preventable childhood diseases.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means on Capitol Hill on April 16, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pressed on cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vaccine messaging and the firing of the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during a hearing on Tuesday.
The hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health marked the final session of four budget hearings before House lawmakers.
Research cuts
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Tex., said she was concerned about the loss of federal aid for health research in the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2027.
“Secretary Kennedy, do you understand that cutting federally funded research as this budget does, will cede U.S. leadership on biomedical research to China and create national security and global competitiveness challenges for the United States?” Fletcher asked Kennedy.
Kennedy acknowledged that he shared Fletcher’s concerns, as the biggest proposed cuts are to NIH and Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) programs.
“I don’t want to cut NIH programs, [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russ Vought doesn’t want to cut NIH programs, but we have a $35 trillion debt,” Kennedy said.
“We have been asked to cut across the board at HHS, 12% of our $100 million budget and so we’re making cuts that are painful,” he told Fletcher.
Vaccine messaging
Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Tex., described Kennedy as the most “anti-vax” figure in his lifetime. He suggested that Kennedy’s history of rhetoric denouncing vaccines is correlated with an uptick in measles cases.
Two unvaccinated school-aged children died last year from measles — the first U.S. deaths from measles in a decade.
Kennedy has long sown doubt in the safety and effectiveness of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Despite being a required vaccine in all states to attend public school, rates have been steadily decreasing over the last decade, CDC data shows.
It comes as vaccine exemptions have risen sharply, with at least 138,000 kindergarteners exempt from one or more vaccines during the most recent school year, CDC data shows.
However, in recent weeks, some reports have suggested Kennedy is staying away from vaccine-skeptic rhetoric ahead of the midterm elections.
Veasey and others pressed Kennedy on whether the alleged messaging strategy was directed by the White House. Kennedy denied that it was.
“Is Susie Wiles or anyone in the White House instructing you or suggesting that you stop talking about your controversial vaccine skepticism?” Veasey asked.
“No,” Kennedy replied.
CDC leadership
Kennedy defended firing former CDC director Susan Monarez in a lengthy exchange with Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.
Ruiz criticized Kennedy for ousting Monarez because she allegedly “refused” to approve what Ruiz called the dismantling of the childhood vaccination schedule.
Kennedy aggressively pushed back on the congressman’s characterization.
“That’s not true,” Kennedy said. “What she testified to wasn’t true.”
Kennedy and Monarez both appeared in front of Senate committees last year to address the ousting.
At a Senate hearing in September 2025, Monarez said she was fired by Trump and Kennedy for “holding the line on scientific integrity.”
Kennedy, in a hearing before a different Senate panel earlier that month, disputed Monarez’s version of events. He denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence, and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.
During Monday’s hearing, Kennedy claimed that his reasoning for the firing had nothing to do with vaccines and that his department is committing $1 billion to vaccine research through the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
Ruiz claimed Kennedy’s vaccine-skeptic views run contrary to the view of President Donald Trump’s new CDC director nominee, Dr. Erica Schwartz.
During her time with the Coast Guard, Schwartz instituted a disease surveillance program and vaccination programs and wrote the first health protection policies for the force, including anthrax and smallpox vaccination policies.
Kennedy said he vetted Schwartz’s position on vaccines before she was nominated by Trump to lead the CDC. However, Kennedy said he did not speak “to the president directly” before Trump made the nomination.
Kennedy rejected the claim that his and Schwartz’s views were not aligned, but would not commit to following all recommendations of the new CDC director nominee.
“Mr. Secretary, if Dr. Schwartz is confirmed, will you commit on the record today to implement whatever vaccine guidance she issues without interference?” Ruiz asked.
“I’m not going to make that kind of commitment,” Kennedy replied.
Kennedy later repeated, as he has in his previous budget hearings, that he had a “good reason” for firing Monarez.
“I fired Susan Monarez because I asked her an outright question, ‘Are you trustworthy?’ and she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Can I trust you?’ and she said, ‘No,'” Kennedy said. “That’s why she got fired, not because of her vaccine issues.”
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
