00:00Today, we are announcing criminal charges against 15 defendants in Minnesota for fraud
00:06schemes that targeted over $90 million in taxpayer dollars.
00:12Let me be clear up front about something.
00:16This is not the end of our work in Minnesota.
00:20This is not the end of the beginning of our work in Minnesota.
00:25This is the beginning of our work in Minnesota.
00:28The fraud here in Minnesota is shocking.
00:33Our cases today involve seven different state-managed Medicaid programs that have been systematically
00:42pilfered by fraudsters who treated Minnesota-run programs as their personal piggy bank.
00:50One of the programs has been completely shut down because there's no money left.
00:56It's all gone.
00:58That was Minnesota's state-run housing stabilization services program designed to help the homeless
01:05find and maintain housing.
01:08It was estimated in 2020 that it would cost only about $2.5 million a year to fund this
01:14program.
01:14But it ended up costing almost 50 times that much, over $104 million by 2024 due to fraud.
01:24And because of all the fraud, Minnesota had to shut the program down in 2025.
01:30And now these services no longer exist for these vulnerable homeless populations.
01:35The same trends exist for other Minnesota-run taxpayer-funded programs.
01:40An autism program that cost the taxpayers $600,000 just six years ago skyrocketed to over $400 million.
01:49And to be sure, that number is not driven by supply and demand.
01:54It is not driven by healthcare or charity.
01:58It is fraud.
02:01To tackle this crisis, and it is a crisis in Minnesota, earlier this year, the Department
02:08of Justice surged 11 strike force prosecutors from across the country to be here on the ground
02:15fighting the rampant fraud targeting our taxpayer-funded programs.
02:19And large numbers of agents from our partners at the FBI, HHS-OIG, HSI, IRS-CI, and others
02:28joined our prosecutors to rapidly unmask fraudulent actors in Minnesota.
02:33These agents and prosecutors have been working around the clock to root out the criminals stealing
02:40taxpayer dollars, and I am proud of all they accomplished in such a short time.
02:45Their hard work made today possible.
02:49Make no mistake, today's charges are unprecedented.
02:53They include the highest loss amount ever charged in a Medicaid case in Minnesota, and the largest
03:01autism fraud scheme ever charged by the Department of Justice.
03:06The common theme throughout these cases is fraudsters exploiting vulnerable programs and vulnerable
03:13people to enrich themselves, no matter the consequences to the programs or to the people.
03:20For example, one defendant is charged with defrauding the Integrated Community Supports Medicaid program.
03:26This program is designed to help individuals with disabilities live independently.
03:32One patient was supposed to be receiving 24-hour care through this program, but he was actually
03:39being serviced by a fraudster and received no services.
03:43This patient was later found dead.
03:47Meanwhile, the architect of this fraud scheme was billing Medicaid as if he was providing care
03:53to this patient.
03:54The defendant even submitted a claim of over $400 for services he never provided the day
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