OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
1:20 PM – Thursday, May 21, 2026
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it brought criminal charges against 15 Minnesota defendants allegedly involved in fraud schemes that targeted more than $90 million in taxpayer funds for state-managed Medicaid programs.
In a news conference on Thursday, federal and state officials provided an update on the investigation into fraud schemes across Minnesota that were made public by online influencers such as Nick Shirley.
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Following Shirley’s investigation in late December, the DOJ established a dedicated National Fraud Enforcement Division in January to investigate individuals possibly taking advantage of federally funded social service programs. Shirley was in attendance at the presser and was briefly asked to stand to be honored for his work.
“The fraud here in Minnesota is shocking,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Fraud Enforcement Division Colin McDonald. “The cases today involve 7 different state-managed Medicaid programs that have been systematically pilfered by fraudsters that treated Minnesota programs as their personal piggy bank.”
He added, “Today’s charges are unprecedented. They include the highest loss amount ever charged in a Medicaid case in Minnesota and the largest autism fraud scheme ever charged by the department of justice. The common theme throughout these cases is fraudsters exploiting vulnerable programs and vulnerable people to enrich themselves no matter the consequences.”
He explained that Minnesota’s state-run Housing Stabilization Services program, designed to help the homeless find and maintain housing, was shut down after fraudsters drained its funding.
“It was estimated in 2020 that it would cost only about $2.5 million a year to fund this program, but it ended up costing almost 50 times that much — over $104 million by 2024, due to fraud,” McDonald stated.
As another example, McDonald said, “An autism program that cost the taxpayer $600,000 just 6 years ago skyrocketed to over $400 million. And to be sure, that number is not driven by supply and demand, it is not driven by healthcare or charity, it is fraud.”
He outlined several examples of fraud cases the Justice Department uncovered and pursued charges for after sending 11 strike force prosecutors from across the country to fight fraud in Minnesota.
“One defendant is charged with defrauding the Integrated Community Supports (ICS) Medicaid program. This program is designed to help individuals with disabilities live independently,” McDonald explained. “One patient was supposed to be receiving 24-hour care through this program, but he was actually being serviced by a fraudster and received no services.”
He continued, “This patient was later found dead. Meanwhile, the architect of this fraud scheme was billing Medicaid as if he was providing care to this patient. The defendant even submitted a claim of over $400 for services he never provided the day before this man died.”
In another example, two defendants were charged with defrauding a program supposed to provide services for people with autism.
“The defendants paid kickbacks to parents who brought their children to autism centers, diagnosed children with autism regardless of medical necessity and billed for autism services that were never actually provided,” McDonald said of the case.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who joined the Justice Department for the announcement, chimed in, “Families with autistic children already face enormous challenges navigating therapies, specialists and support systems. Fraud makes those barriers even steeper.”
Two more defendants were charged in an over $22 million fraud scheme involving the Individualized Home Supports (IHS) program for disabled individuals who wanted to live in their own homes.
“Instead, these disabled individuals were used like lottery tickets by these defendants to generate millions of dollars, which these defendants used to expand their real estate holdings, purchase luxury vehicles and splurge on expensive jewelry,” McDonald stated.
McDonald announced that since April 1st, the fraud division has announced over 450 fraud enforcement actions nationwide.
“My message to the fraudsters is this: eat, drink and be merry today, because your days of frolicking and freedom are numbered,” McDonald asserted, adding that his team would “claw back every dollar” that was stolen from the American people.
“We will not allow criminals to treat children as billing opportunities while American taxpayers foot the bill. This administration will continue rooting out fraud because every stolen dollar is a dollar taken from a child, a parent, a senior, a family who desperately needs help,” Kennedy said.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz pointed to the COVID-19 Pandemic as the outset of much of the corruption the Trump administration uncovered. He noted that total Medicaid spending increased by 50% and spending on prescription medications quadrupled since the start of COVID.
“Because COVID caused a lack of oversight, and because agencies like mine were gutted in their ability to provide program integrity, we have allowed this monstrous, outrageous increase in spending,” Oz said.
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