Tag: fraud

Three Maryland Cousins Charged in $3.5M Tax Fraud and COVID-19 Unemployment Scheme

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland unsealed a superseding indictment today, charging three cousins in connection with a tax-fraud scheme.

Daiwor “Mark Brown” Woah-Tee, 52, of Belcamp, Maryland; Dekwii Woah-Tee, 47, of Baltimore, Maryland; and Laiworpaye Woah-Tee, 49, of Nottingham, Maryland, are charged with conspiracy to submit false, fictitious, and fraudulent claims.  

The superseding indictment also charged Daiwor Woah-Tee and Dekwii Woah-Tee with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft stemming from a scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Beginning in January 2018 and continuing until December 2024, Daiwor Woah-Tee, Dekwii Woah-Tee, and Laiworpaye Woah-Tee knowingly and willfully conspired to defraud the United States and the Department of the Treasury by filing fraudulent Form 1040s seeking tax refunds from the IRS through fictitious claims based on fraudulent material representations.  

The co-conspirators identified and recruited individuals willing to become customers of their tax return business and obtained tax documentation and personal identifiable information from those individuals seeking tax return preparation assistance.

Daiwor Woah-Tee used the information obtained from individuals to prepare tax filings with the IRS. Then the co-conspirators filed, or caused to be filed, false tax returns that contained fabricated information regarding the taxpayer’s dependents, income, education expenses, and eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The co-conspirators caused the IRS to deposit funds into bank accounts that they controlled and then caused the IRS to deliver treasury checks to addresses they controlled.  As a result, the co-conspirators obtained tax refunds they were not entitled to in connection with submitting tax returns in which they illegally sought at least $3.5 million in refunds.

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Jailed Fraud Queen Drops Bombshell: Walz, Ellison Knew About the $250M Heist All Along

A Minnesota woman convicted in one of the largest welfare fraud schemes in state history is alleging that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud long before federal prosecutors intervened, adding new scrutiny to state leadership already facing a Department of Justice investigation.

Aimee Bock, the former head of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, made the allegations during a jailhouse interview with Fox News from Sherburne County Jail in Minnesota.

Bock has been convicted of welfare fraud tied to the misuse of federal funds intended for child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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JD Vance: California Fraud Dwarfs Theft of Federal Funds in Minnesota

Vice President JD Vance revealed this week that about $7 billion worth of Small Business Administration (SBA) fraud has been discovered in California, an indicator the theft of federal funds across all departments in the Golden State could well exceed any other state’s.

“I think we have a fraud problem that is much worse in California than it is in Minnesota,” Vance said in an interview Thursday with Newsmax.

He continued, “I was talking actually to our small business administrator and I think she found probably a half billion dollars of fraud in Minneapolis and the broader Minnesota area. I think she’s found 7 billion dollars worth of fraud in California.”

“This is unfortunately a problem that is much bigger than Minnesota,” he added. ”But it also highlights how absurd this effort to prevent immigration enforcement is.”

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Legislation Proposed To Make It Easier To Denaturalize Somali Fraudsters

In the wake of the massive Somali-fraud scandal out of Minnesota and other states, President Donald Trump wants to denaturalize American immigrants convicted of crimes and deport them, but the current legal framework and federal bureaucracy make such sweeping denaturalization efforts difficult to achieve quickly. 

“I would do it in a heartbeat if they were dishonest,” Trump told the New York Times earlier this month. “I think that many of the people that came in from Somalia, they hate our country.”

Existing federal law provides limited pathways for revoking the citizenship of naturalized citizens. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act the government can denaturalize individuals who obtained citizenship through fraud, misrepresentation, or the concealment of material facts during the naturalization process. The law does not allow automatic revocation based solely on crimes committed after naturalization. Current denaturalization proceedings require civil lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice in federal court or criminal prosecutions for naturalization fraud, both demanding individualized evidence, extensive litigation, and meeting high burdens of proof. Civil cases require “clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence,” while criminal prosecutions demand proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has proposed a solution to this problem. He’s introduced the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act in the Senate to expand federal denaturalization authority. The legislation creates a 10-year window after naturalization during which citizens who commit specified crimes could face citizenship revocation and deportation. Among those offenses are welfare fraud exceeding $10,000, aggravated felonies, espionage, and joining terrorist organizations, a category the bill explicitly extends to gangs and drug cartels. The measure also lowers the threshold for federal authorities to begin denaturalization proceedings by broadening the legal grounds beyond fraud committed during the citizenship application process.

The bill even includes a fallback provision that automatically reduces the revocation window from ten years to five years if courts strike down the longer period as unconstitutional.

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Virginia Democrat Moves to Squash Oversight of Nonprofits After Somali Fraud Scandal

A Virginia state Democrat introduced a bill that would bar the state from verifying eligibility to receive federal taxpayer benefits.

“No state agency responsible for the administration of federal funds shall impose a requirement on a nonprofit charitable organization providing a federal public benefit to determine, verify, or otherwise require proof of eligibility of any applicant for such benefits,” the one-page bill stated, which was proposed by state Delegate Jessica Anderson.

The Dominion State Democrat’s bill was introduced as the nation has increasingly scrutinized the misuse of taxpayer funds. The Trump administration has moved to clamp down on fraud across many federal benefit programs.

Billions of dollars of taxpayer funds have been lost due to fraud related to Minnesota’s Somali community.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged at least 78 people as part of the “Feeding our Future” scandal, named for a Somali-linked nonprofit that bilked taxpayers of $250 million.

Those accused reportedly faked invoices, attendance records, and the distribution of meals in low-income and other areas in Minnesota.

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MORE FRAUD? Reporter in Maine Finds Building With Ten Somali-Owned Home Healthcare Companies – Landlord Says No One is Ever There 

A reporter for NewsNation traveled to the state of Maine and uncovered more possible fraud.

He highlighted one particular building that is supposedly home to ten Somali-owned home healthcare companies, yet when he interviewed the landlord, he said that there is never anyone there.

He then interviews a local newspaper reporter who points out various locations that are also supposedly home healthcare companies, which just so happen to be next door to businesses that can wire money to Somalia.

This is all so shady.

From NewsNation:

Maine building houses 10 health care firms; landlord rarely sees anyone

Office buildings across Maine are packed with home health care companies that rarely have anyone present, raise red flags similar to fraud patterns discovered in Minnesota and, in some cases, have overbilled the state by hundreds of thousands of dollars before vanishing, a NewsNation investigation has found.

One Portland office building houses 10 home health care businesses — about half the building’s tenants — with the landlord saying he rarely sees anyone from most of the companies except when they pay rent.

“One guy I see coming and going, and the rest of them, I never see them, only when they pay their rent, if I’m here when they pay their rent,” said Ron Nevins, who owns the building. “They’re never here. Nobody’s over here, and then all of a sudden, if it was one or two or three or four, I’d be like, ‘OK.’ But when there’s 10, I’ve had as many as 12 or 13 probably before. You just wonder, what’s up with this health care thing? Why are so many people doing it all from foreign lands?”…

The clustering of multiple health care providers in single locations mirrors patterns identified by the House Oversight Committee as major fraud indicators in Minnesota, where billions in taxpayer funds have allegedly been stolen through shell companies billing for services never provided.

One tenant in Nevins’ building, Five Star Home Health Care, overbilled MaineCare by nearly $400,000 according to state audit documents obtained by The Maine Wire. The owner then abandoned the office.

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Aimee Bock, “mastermind” of Minnesota’s biggest fraud scheme, says “I wish I could go back and do things differently”

The Trump administration has justified its ongoing immigration crackdown in Minnesota by citing a need to curb fraud and pointing to a widening scandal involving members of the Somali American community. Yet prosecutors say the mastermind of the state’s biggest fraud scheme to date was not Somali but a White woman — 45-year-old Aimee Bock. 

In an exclusive interview from her jail cell, Bock defended her conduct, admitted regrets and argued that state officials who she worked with should bear some of the blame. It was the first time Bock spoke publicly since she was arrested for her role in what prosecutors say was a $250 million COVID-era effort to defraud a federal program to feed hungry children. 

“I wish I could go back and do things differently, stop things, catch things,” said Bock, who was the head of Feeding Our Future, the now-infamous nonprofit that signed up restaurants and caterers to receive taxpayer money for providing meals to kids. “I believed we were doing everything in our power to protect the program.”

So far, prosecutors have charged 78 defendants connected to Feeding Our Future, with more than 60 pleading guilty or convicted at trial. Nearly all are East African or of Somali descent, except for Aimee Bock.

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Ohio Physician Gets 5 Years in Prison for Role in $14.5M Medicare Fraud

An Ohio doctor has been sentenced to prison for his role in a healthcare billing conspiracy scheme that was intended to fraudulently bill Medicare for more than $14.5 million.

Timothy Sutton, 44, of North Ridgeville, Ohio, was sentenced 5 years and 4 months in prison by U.S. District Judge David A. Ruiz, after he pleaded guilty in April 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, false statements related to health care matters, and aggravated identity theft. He was also ordered to serve 3 years of supervised release and pay nearly $6 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Judge Ruiz imposed the sentence on Jan. 12.

According to court documents, Sutton used his position as a licensed medical doctor in the state of Ohio to cause submission of claims on behalf of patients who did not need the medical treatment. He was employed by two telemedicine companies based in Florida which provided him with pre-completed orders for durable medical equipment (DME), such as braces, and/or cancer genetic testing (CGX) for him to approve and digitally sign. 

“Mr. Sutton deliberately lied about performing patient examinations and then used his role as a trusted medical professional to line his pockets at the expense of taxpayers. We will not tolerate those who utilize their positions of authority to defraud Medicare, or any government agency,” said United States Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “Thanks to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Cleveland FBI’s thorough investigations, we have put a stop to this rampant fraud and abuse of power.”

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Tim Walz ‘Is Complicit in the Theft of Over $9B’ by the Same People Attacking ICE: Minnesota Senator

Minnesota State Senator Steve Drazkowski accused Gov. Tim Walz of advancing a biased political agenda, losing credibility with voters, and manipulating state investigations to protect what he described as a far-left narrative, while also criticizing Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and local media outlets.

Drazkowski made the remarks while discussing the political climate in Minnesota and ongoing controversies surrounding state leadership.

He alleged that Walz is facing growing backlash from Minnesotans and claimed that calls for accountability are intensifying ahead of the next legislative session.

“They have an agenda,” Drazkowski said.

“Tim Walz is losing oil pressure rapidly. A large and growing number of Minnesotans would really like to see him in jail, and we will see articles of impeachment introduced in the Minnesota House when the legislature convenes on the 17th of next month.”

Drazkowski alleged that Walz bears responsibility for significant financial losses in the state and tied those allegations to recent unrest involving federal law enforcement officers.

“He is complicit in the theft of over $9 billion by many of the same people that have been attacking Federal officers for the past two weeks,” Drazkowski said.

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Articles of impeachment announced against Gov. Tim Walz

Amid fraud allegations and a continuing ICE presence in the North Star State, articles of impeachment have been announced against two-term DFL Governor Tim Walz.

The articles, introduced by Rep. Mike Wiener (R-Long Prairie), outline four separate charges against Walz:

  1. Article one alleges Walz violated his oath of office “by knowingly concealing or permitting the concealment of widespread fraud within Minnesota​ state administered programs, despite repeated warnings, audits, reports, and public indicators of​ systematic abuse.”
  2. Article two alleges Walz violated his oath of office by “actions and omissions that interfered with lawful oversight, investigation, or corrective​ action related to fraud in Minnesota state agencies.”
  3. Article three alleges Walz violated his oath of office by “placing political consideration above lawful administration, thereby breaching the​ public trust.”
  4. Article four alleges Walz violated his oath of office by “failing in his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws of the State of Minnesota, particular laws governing stewardship of public funds.”

“We are stewards of the public dollar,” said Wiener. “They put their faith in us to take that money and spend it wisely. And when we see this massive amount of fraud that’s been taken place, and we’ve known this for years, it’s not anything new. It’s been going on for quite some time. I take that very seriously.”

Wiener said he has been working on these articles of impeachment for two months. He was going through the state constitution when he “kind of stumbled” across the process.

“When I looked at the articles of impeachment, I thought this is a way that the legislators can, through the process, through our state constitution, hold the governor accountable for the massive amounts of fraud that have taken place in the state,” said Wiener.

While he said the articles are broad, Wiener believed they cover the broadest aspects of what was going occurring in Minnesota.

According to the Article VIII of the Minnesota State Constitution, only certain state officers can be subject to impeachment “for corrupt conduct in office or for crimes and misdemeanors.” Those offices include:

  • Governor of Minnesota
  • Secretary of State
  • State Auditor
  • State Attorney General
  • Judges of the Minnesota Supreme Court
  • Judges of the Minnesota Court of Appeals
  • Judges of Minnesota District Courts

Similar to the U.S. Congress, the Minnesota House of Representatives has the power to impeach an elected official through a simple majority vote. If passed, the process then moves to the state Senate, where it takes a two-thirds majority to convict.

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