During the decade-plus he spent with the Blues, fans at Xcel Energy Center didn’t care much for Vladimir Tarasenko. The crafty Russian forward was a thorn in the Wild’s side during countless Central Division meetings, and in a few trips to the playoffs when Minnesota and St. Louis met head-to-head.

It’s likely that Wild fans will take more of a liking to Tarasenko, when he arrives wearing green and red. On Monday, the Wild acquired Tarasenko, 33, from Detroit for future considerations.

Since leaving the Blues — with whom he won a Stanley Cup in 2019 — Tarasenko has bounced from the Rangers to the Senators to the Panthers to the Red Wings, and has a season remaining on a two-year pact he signed in Detroit last summer. He won his second Stanley Cup in Florida in 2024.

Last season with the Red Wings, Tarasenko played 80 games with 11 goals and 22 assists. After starting the season in Russia because of the NHL lockout, he made his North American pro debut in St. Louis in 2013 and had his best regular season in 2015-16, scoring 40 goals as the Blues advanced to the Western Conference Final.

With the addition of Tarasenko’s $4.75 million salary cap hit, the Wild are left with a little under $13 million in cap space heading into Tuesday’s opening day of free agency, which may limit their pursuit of a few of the higher-priced players available on the open market.

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WASHINGTON — State and federal prosecutors have charged more than 320 people and uncovered nearly $15 million in false claims in what they described Monday as the largest coordinated takedown of health care fraud schemes in Justice Department history.

Law enforcement seized more than $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets as prosecutors warned of a growing push by transnational criminal networks to exploit the U.S. health care system. As part of the sweeping crackdown, officials identified perpetrators based in Russia, Eastern Europe, Pakistan, and other countries.

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“These criminals didn’t just steal someone else’s money. They stole from you,” Matthew Galeotti, who leads the Justice Department’s criminal division, told reporters Monday. “Every fraudulent claim, every fake billing, every kickback scheme represents money taken directly from the pockets of American taxpayers who fund these essential programs through their hard work and sacrifice.”

The alleged $14.6 billion in fraud is more than twice the previous record in the Justice Department’s annual health care fraud crackdown. It includes nearly 190 federal cases and more than 90 state cases that have been charged or unsealed since June 9. Nearly 100 licensed medical professionals were charged, including 25 doctors, and the government reported $2.9 billion in actual losses.

Among the cases is a $10 billion urinary catheter scheme that authorities say highlights the increasingly sophisticated methods used by transnational criminal organizations. Authorities say the group behind the scheme used foreign straw owners to secretly buy up dozens of medical supply companies and then used stolen identities and confidential health data to file fake Medicare claims.

Nineteen defendants have been charged as part of that investigation — which authorities dubbed Operation Gold Rush — including four people arrested in Estonia and seven people arrested at U.S. airports and at the border with Mexico, prosecutors said. The scheme involved the stolen identities and personal information of more one million Americans, according to the Justice Department.

“It’s not done by small time operators,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “These are organized syndicates who are designing to hurt America.”

By JAMES POLLARD, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan had some complications while fundraising on his own website last fall.

Several friends wanted to help Cadogan reach his $28,000 goal as he crowdfunded for a Los Angeles area wilderness rescue team. But they tried to donate through a lesser-known wealth management tool called a donor-advised fund, or a DAF, a no-frills investing vehicle for money earmarked as eventual charitable gifts. After cutting checks and waiting three weeks, Cadogan said, the money finally arrived.

“It was just a bit of a thing,” he added. “If they were using a Giving Fund, it would take ten seconds.”

Giving Funds are GoFundMe’s latest in a flurry of product rollouts with the purported goal of moving stagnant U.S. charitable contributions beyond the 2% GDP mark where totals have long hovered. But the for-profit company’s DAF, announced Monday, enters a crowded market of more than a thousand providers — products often with older, wealthier clienteles that are often criticized for warehousing gifts.

To transform the way that everyday users plan their donations, Cadogan will have to widen the appeal of DAFs beyond the likes of the technology entrepreneur’s circles. And he wants to change public perceptions of his company as just a crowdfunding site.

“We’re also hopeful that more people will start using GoFundMe for a broader set of things in their lives: not just that one fundraiser they’re supporting, not just that one nonprofit. But they’re coming in and they’re managing their giving portfolio with us and through us,” Cadogan said. “That connects directly to our mission, which is we want to help people help each other.”

A DAF boom — but for whom?

Donor-advised funds grew popular over the last decade among ultra-high net worth individuals as a tax-efficient instrument for grantmaking without the hassle of a more sophisticated charitable foundation. Donors can immediately write the contribution off on their taxes but face no deadline for giving the money to a nonprofit.

The idea: account holders could invest money they wanted to ultimately donate, let the funds grow tax-free while they sit and give themselves time to identify the recipients best aligned with their giving goals.

There’s since been a rush to court average givers. Legacy financial services firms such as Fidelity Charitable lowered the minimums to open accounts. Fintech startups such as Daffy contrast their flat fees with the hidden expenses they allege their competitors charge. All that traction brought IRS proposals last year to impose penalties on those who abuse DAFs and Congress has considered legislation that would require some deadlines for disbursements.

GoFundMe’s Giving Funds will have no minimum balances, zero management fees and donations starting at $5. Users can load their DAF through their bank accounts or direct deposits for free. Credit card payments will be covered through the end of the year and then face the company’s standard transaction fee of 2.2% plus 30 cents. Contributions can then be invested in a choice of exchange traded funds from managers including Vanguard, Blackrock and State Street Global Advisors.

Cadogan pitches Giving Funds as a way to be more intentional about giving — something he said user feedback suggests more people want. As he sees it, widespread adoption hasn’t occurred because DAFs have been framed as “wealth management products.”

“This is a giving product,” Cadogan said. “It’s something for everybody. And you don’t need to know the words ‘donor advised fund.’ It doesn’t show up.”

Moving the needle

DAFs remain scrutinized for allowing donors to reap tax benefits before they ever redistribute any money to charitable causes — even if the notion that the channel is being exploited is fiercely debated in the nonprofit sector. Opaque disclosure requirements make it difficult to put a number on the overall assets held within the funds. The National Philanthropic Trust placed the total at more than $250 billion in 2023.

Cadogan believes GoFundMe’s culture is uniquely suited to nudge users with targeted spotlights of the 1.5 million charities already active on the platform. Giving Funds holders will be peppered with information about local nonprofits, crisis responders, their friends’ charities of choice and potential beneficiaries that address their selected issue areas.

That “dynamic, alive community” is very different from the “fairly static, passive” financial vehicles in the current market, according to Cadogan.

“It’s essentially inspiring the money to move,” he said.

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Other features seek to encourage contributions by simplifying things. Users can set annual giving goals by a percentage of their income or a fixed number. Their gifts will tally up in real-time records to track their progress and ease year-end tax planning.

Streamlining the process was one area for improvement identified in the DAF Research Collaborative’s recent survey of more than 2,100 donors. But Jeff Williams, one of the researchers, said DAFs are currently hitting the “sweet spot of convenience and connection to nonprofits.”

The challenge for any new player, he said, is that it’s a competitive environment with many different options. Plus, he added, many DAFs already are “available-to-everyone vehicles” considering that half run balances under $50,000.

“Givers are voting with their feet that DAFs are increasing with popularity. More options are generally better,” Williams said. “Anything that makes sure we maintain or enhance the ease of giving, it makes me happier.”

But Direct Relief CEO Amy Weaver, previously the CFO at Salesforce, described GoFundMe’s entrance as “a game changer” that could unlock additional funds. Direct Relief, a nonprofit that supplies free medical resources worldwide, reported receiving more than 18,000 DAF gifts totaling $116 million over the past five years.

Weaver acknowledged DAFs have been traditionally used by those with more substantial wealth. But she encouraged people to view them as a “savings account” for “good works.”

“And GoFundMe, with its name familiarity and the fact that it really attracts people making smaller gifts, I think could be incredibly powerful if they can bring DAFs to that group of people,” she said.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Each year, retailers give American consumers plenty of incentive and enticement to do their shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday. And to be sure, consumers spend millions that day on the various sales and doorbusters that have become part of the retail lexicon.

But a wise consumer can find value and great stuff with patience, as well, saving their money for later in the season, when needs arise — and oftentimes bargains emerge.

With a notable purse to invest for the first time in his tenure as the Minnesota’s general manager, Bill Guerin will certainly have some incentive to be a Black Friday shopper on Tuesday, when the NHL’s July 1 free agency period opens. Guerin has identified offense as the Wild’s primary need, but has also talked of adding depth on defense and in goal. And there are plenty of good players available at those positions, even though this has generally been identified as a free agent class short of eye-popping.

“We just want to add. We want to add some pieces,” Guerin said in a meeting with the media following Saturday’s NHL draft. “We’re pretty set with our seven (defensemen). We’ll add some depth. We’d like to add some forwards and how that happens, I’m not sure.”

For example, the Wild have widely been rumored as a potential landing spot for goal-scoring forward Brock Boeser, an unrestricted free agent and with roots in the Twin Cities who may be interested in a homecoming for the right price. But with the league-wide salary cap rising from $88 million to $99.5 million for the 2025-26 seasons, a lot of teams suddenly have money to spend. So, player salaries could be rising, too — and more top players could trigger a bidding war.

For years, Wild fans have been waiting for July 1, 2025, when most of the salary paid to Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on their 13-year, $98 million contracts comes off the books. Guerin admitted that more than $14 million dead salary cap money prevented him from being more involved in free agency the past two years, and limited his options at the trade deadline.

Also starting Tuesday, Guerin has an open window to exclusively negotiate with superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov on a contract extension that some have predicted will be worth $15 million or more annually. While the GM has made no promises of a big splash when free agency begins, he has had conversations with Kaprizov and his agent about surrounding the high-scoring Russian with complementary pieces that could mean trips past the opening round of the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.

“They know the plan. They know what we’re trying to do. And we have the same goal, and that’s to win,” Guerin said, adding that in-season trades can be another way to invest bolster a lineup with talent that might not be available on July 1. “Sometimes it doesn’t just happen in one day, you know. But the biggest thing is that we’re going to be able to be players in the game again.”

By “the game,” Guerin specifically mentioned the Dallas Stars’ 2025 deadline acquisition of Mikko Rantanen, who played a key role in the team’s run to the Western Conference Final, as well as Florida trading for Matthew Tkachuk’s trade in the summer of 2022, which has helped the Panthers win the past two Stanley Cup titles.

“Big players do move, and we haven’t been able to be involved in that type of stuff,” Guerin said. “But if they come up, now we can.”

With the NHL’s version of Black Friday upon us, it appears wise investing and patience will be his mantras, even with the Wild back in the game fiscally for the first time in years.

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