FBI's newest 'Most Wanted' list targets fraudsters after mobsters and terrorists
WASHINGTON — The FBI has spent decades using its Most Wanted posters to chase mobsters, then terrorists. Now it is putting fraudsters in the same spotlight.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Sept. 3 that three men had been added to a newly formalized fraud-focused Most Wanted list, a companion to the historic Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list that began in 1950 and the Most Wanted Terrorists list created after the Sept. 11 attacks. The FBI said the fraud list was officially launched in June and is designed to highlight a category of crime that drains tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year.
Patel said the bureau has already made clear the list is not just for show. In a post on X, he said investigators had caught four people tied to nearly $2 billion in alleged fraud across three different continents and returned them to the United States to face charges. Combined, he said, those four had been on the run for 3,500 days before being taken into custody. “We’re not slowing down,” he wrote.
The FBI’s National Press Office described the new list as one of only three officially sanctioned wanted lists in the bureau’s history. It said the fraud list “features fugitives who have committed different types of fraud against the American people” and is meant both to focus enforcement attention on such crimes and to warn the public about the people behind them.
The formal status matters beyond public relations. The previous Most Wanted programs have long relied on ordinary citizens to help identify fugitives, and the FBI’s history shows that public tips have been crucial to catching suspects. By giving fraud cases the same visibility, the bureau is signaling that economic crimes against federal programs and private investors now rank alongside more traditional targets in its enforcement priorities.
The effort also has a political context. Patel has said the FBI’s push is tied to a White House task force on eliminating fraud headed by Vice President JD Vance, part of the Trump administration’s broader campaign against government waste. He has argued that the FBI under President Donald Trump has been more effective than ever at catching wanted criminals.
The original Most Wanted program began in 1950 after a wire-service reporter asked the bureau for names and descriptions of the “toughest guys” investigators hoped to catch. The enormous publicity that followed prompted FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to launch the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The FBI has said fugitives must meet two basic tests to qualify: a serious criminal record or a threat to public safety, and a real possibility that nationwide attention will help police find them. Those who were already famous for other reasons do not tend to make the cut.
By the time the bureau marked the program’s 75th anniversary in March 2025, 535 fugitives had appeared on the list, and 496 had been apprehended or located. Public tips had led to the arrests of 163 of them. Over the years, the list has moved beyond bank robbers and murder suspects to include organized-crime figures, cybercriminals, child predators and white-collar criminals, according to the FBI.
The three men on the new fraud list illustrate that range of schemes.
Manjit Singh Bedi, the first subject, is wanted for allegedly defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of at least $600,000. Patel said Bedi operated a grocery store and swiped Electronic Benefits Transfer cards, keeping the proceeds for himself. The scheme allegedly ran from 2024 to 2025. Bedi has been on the run for nearly a year, authorities said, and is believed to have fled to India.
Bernhard Eugen Fritsch is accused of running an investment scheme tied to his technology company, Starclub Inc. Authorities say he raised about $35 million from investors between 2014 and 2017, with at least $7.3 million going to his personal expenses — mortgage payments, residential costs and luxury vehicles. He was convicted of wire fraud in a California court in April 2025, then fled to Mexico before a scheduled hearing and later went to Munich, Germany. In October 2025, a judge sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison, fined him $35,000 and ordered him to pay $27 million in restitution.
Onur Simsek, a Turkish national believed to be in Turkey, is wanted for his alleged role in a defense procurement fraud scheme. The FBI says Simsek and others used a front company from about 2019 to 2022 to win contracts for supplying military components to the Department of Defense, while making false claims about what they could deliver. The group then laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars back to Turkey through international wire transfers, according to Patel.
The FBI is offering rewards of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of each of the three men. Anyone with information can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.