Top Trump administration officials traveled to Minnesota on Thursday to announce federal criminal charges against 15 people for alleged fraud schemes targeting more than $90 million in Medicaid funds intended to help the state’s children, homeless and disabled.
The charges include the two largest Medicaid fraud cases ever brought in Minnesota, federal officials said, and represent a “shot across the bow” in Trump’s “war on fraud” largely targeting blue states.
“We’re going to protect these programs and protect vulnerable children and restore integrity to the American health care system,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy was joined by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen, FBI Co-Deputy Director Christopher Raia and other law enforcement officials to announce the indictments at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche was supposed to be present as well but stayed in Washington, D.C. to try to save the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for Trump’s allies who Trump says were unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration, such as the January 6 rioters.
Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division, said those charged treated disabled people like “lottery tickets” to steal millions in taxpayer dollars, which they spent on luxury cars, real estate and expensive jewelry.
“My message to the fraudsters is this: eat, drink, and be merry today because your days of frolicking and freedom are numbered,” McDonald said.
McDonald also announced the expansion of the Midwest Healthcare Strike Force team with additional prosecutors in Minnesota, and the creation of a new Medicaid strike force team with 15 attorneys across the country.
The additions come as the Department of Justice in Minnesota faces a wave of resignations of career prosecutors including former assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who previously oversaw the sprawling investigation into social service fraud in Minnesota. The resignations were driven in part by the politicization of the Justice Department under President Donald Trump and its handling of the federal immigration crackdown known as Operation Metro Surge.
The officials at the press conference did not provide details like names or the specific charges leveled, though they did present a blurry photo of one person — Muhammad Omar — who they said is on the run; they asked for the public’s help in locating him.
Trump administration officials reiterated their harsh criticism of the Walz administration for allowing fraudsters to raid public programs.
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