By Melissa O’Rourke for the Daily Caller News Foundation<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors alleged Thursday that Minnesota may have lost billions of dollars to fraud in its Medicaid program, the latest development in an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
As much as half of the roughly $18 billion Minnesota has spent since 2018 on 14 Medicaid programs particularly vulnerable to abuse may have been siphoned off by fraudsters,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to U.S. Assistant Attorney Joe Thompson. Thompson made the remarks as prosecutors\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0additional charges in the ongoing investigation of the \u201cstaggering, industrial-scale\u201d fraud\u00a0engulfing<\/a>\u00a0the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fraud is not small. It isn\u2019t isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It\u2019s a staggering industrial-scale fraud. It\u2019s swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about our state.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those charged are Anthony Waddell Jefferson and Lester Brown, who are accused of submitting roughly $3.5 million in false claims to the state\u2019s Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program. Federal officials allege the two men \u2014 both based in Philadelphia \u2014 set up companies to exploit Minnesota\u2019s Medicaid system, committing what Thompson labeled \u201cfraud tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMinnesota has become a magnet for fraud, so much so that we have developed a fraud tourism industry \u2014 people coming to our state purely to exploit and defraud its programs,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n Additional charges were filed against Hassan Ahmed Hussein and Ahmed Abdirashid Mohamed, who prosecutors say submitted approximately $750,000 in fraudulent HSS claims through their company.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Department of Human Services\u00a0terminated<\/a>\u00a0the HSS program in October, citing widespread fraud.<\/p>\n The program, originally intended to help elderly individuals and people with disabilities secure and maintain housing, was projected in 2020 to cost taxpayers about $2.6 million annually. By 2024, however, spending had ballooned to roughly\u00a0$104 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately, Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf was charged with wire fraud in connection with the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention Autism program. Prosecutors allege Yussuf, the president and CEO of Star Autism Center LLC, and others recruited Somali children by offering kickbacks to parents in exchange for enrolling their children, then falsely billed Medicaid for services that were never delivered.<\/p>\n Authorities say the scheme resulted in more than $6 million in improper reimbursements.<\/p>\n The new charges add to a growing list of\u00a0fraud cases<\/a>\u00a0in Minnesota, where federal officials had previously estimated total losses at over\u00a0$1 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n In late October, Democrat\u00a0Gov. Tim Walz<\/a>\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that his administration would audit payments for 14 Medicaid services and pause payments for up to 90 days if anomalies were detected. The move has done little to quell public outrage, with critics saying the governor is not doing enough, and some even calling for his\u00a0resignation<\/a>\u00a0over the scandal.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s news is possibly the most disturbing news we\u2019ve had so far in exposing the massive schemes that defrauded Minnesotans,\u201d said state Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0Thursday. \u201cMinnesota\u2019s fraud problem is indeed Minnesota\u2019s fraud problem. If people could easily defraud other states, they wouldn\u2019t single out Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe mounting failures by Governor Tim Walz to stop fraud is costing taxpayers more every day,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n