Tag: fraud

Feds Charge Somalis with Massive $8.4 Million Medicaid Fraud

The U.S. attorney in Minnesota announced charges against eight Somali migrants connected to $8.4 million in Medicaid billing fraud hidden inside a state-funded housing program.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson announced Thursday that an investigation found that the eight suspects provided Medicaid with long lists of “clients” who they claimed to have worked with to enroll into Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Service and billed Medicaid for this work. But, investigators say that no such work was ever performed and the clients were fictional.

The HSS fraud only adds to the growing number of fraudulent and mismanaged state programs, including the hundreds of autism clinics that wasted tens of millions in state tax dollars, and the $250 million fraud in a coronavirus relief program that was supposed to pay for food for children.

“Most of these individuals did not receive the stable housing they so desperately needed,” Thompson said during a Thursday press conference said. “The money was just simply stolen.”

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President Trump Goes Scorched Earth on Ilhan Omar, Accuses Her of Committing Immigration Fraud by Marrying Her Brother

On Thursday evening, President Trump went scorched earth on Muslima Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar and accused her of potentially committing immigration fraud by marrying her own brother.

“Ilhan Omar’s Country of Somalia is plagued by a lack of central Government control, persistent Poverty, Hunger, Resurgent Terrorism, Piracy, decades of Civil War, Corruption, and pervasive Violence. 70% of the population lives in extreme Poverty, and widespread Food Insecurity. Somalia is consistently ranked among the World’s Most Corrupt Countries, including Bribery, Embezzlement, and a Dysfunctional Government. All of this, and Ilhan Omar tells us how to run America! P.S. Wasn’t she the one that married her brother in order to gain Citizenship??? What SCUM we have in our Country, telling us what to do, and how to do it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” President Trump said.

Earlier Thursday, President Trump responded to the Justice Department’s announcement it charged eight people with wire fraud for their roles in Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization program.

Here are the defendants:

  • Defendant Moktar Hassan Aden, age 30
  • Defendant Mustafa Dayib Ali, age 29
  • Defendant Khalid Ahmed Dayib, age 26
  • Defendant Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed, age 27
  • Defendant Christopher Adesoji Falade, age 62
  • Defendant Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade, age 32
  • Defendant Asad Ahmed Adow, age 26
  • Defendant Anwar Ahmed Adow, age 25

“Does Ilhan Omar know these people? Are they from her wonderfully managed Home Country of Somalia?” Trump said on Truth Social.

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Budget Office Estimates Tens Of Billions Lost To Obamacare Exchange Fraud

his space has previously reported on the fraud associated with Obamacare, particularly the enhanced Exchange subsidies passed in 2021 that Democrats want to extend. In recent weeks, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has now admitted that the law’s subsidy structure encourages enrollees to lie about their income.

These reports come on top of the fact that passing a subsidy extension could expand funding for abortion-related travel, in ways that undermine state pro-life protections. It’s all enough to make one wonder why Republican “leaders” are making noises about extending the enhanced subsidies before their expiration on December 31.

Impact of Skewed Incentives

Prior studies by the Paragon Health Institute have examined the incentives created by the Exchange subsidy regime to falsify income estimates. (Disclosure: While I have done work for Paragon, I had no involvement with this particular report, and am writing this article on my own behalf.)

Those incentives work in two ways: On the one hand, enrollees with income below the poverty level have an incentive to inflate their income up to the poverty level, because otherwise they will not qualify for subsidies at all. (This dynamic largely applies in the 10 red states that have not expanded Medicaid, because enrollees with below-poverty income levels in expansion states would qualify for Medicaid expansion.) On the other hand, enrollees with higher incomes — say, between two and four times the poverty level — have an incentive to understate their income, to qualify for the richest subsidies.

Paragon concluded that, in 2025, there are approximately 6.4 million people with incomes just above the poverty level with potentially fraudulent enrollment, either for over- or under-stating their income. In its estimation, these enrollees led to approximately $27.1 billion in estimated taxpayer losses due to Exchange fraud.

Budget Office Estimates

As part of its responses to questions from congressional Republicans, CBO recently revealed for the first time that it, too, believes enrollees are lying about their income to qualify for Obamacare subsidies:

Estimating the number of people who have improperly received subsidies for marketplace [i.e., Exchange] coverage is difficult. The agency has, however, specifically estimated that 1.3 million marketplace enrollees improperly claimed the premium tax credit [i.e., subsidies] via intentional overstatement of income for 2023; 2.3 million enrollees did so for 2025.

The budget agency went on to explain that it could calculate this improper enrollment “because it appears in enrollment data as an unusual concentration of enrollees reporting income just above” the poverty level.

For instance, CBO noted that the number of people reporting income between 100 percent and 105 percent of the poverty level in non-expansion states was 2.6 times the number of people reporting income between 105 percent and 110 percent of the poverty level. CBO also cited tax reporting data indicating that, in 2023, a large number (39 percent) of enrollees claiming the richest subsidies — which are calculated based on expected income — ultimately reported actual income below the poverty level.

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Fugitive Vaccine Researcher Behind Infamous ‘No Autism Link’ Study ARRESTED for Stealing $1 Million from CDC

Breitbart News has reported that Poul Thorsen, the Danish researcher whose work has been used for two decades to dismiss any link between vaccines and autism, has finally been arrested in Germany after more than a decade as a fugitive.

Thorsen, 64, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta in 2011 on 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that from 2004 to 2010, he stole more than $1 million in CDC research funds—money intended to study autism, infant disabilities, genetic disorders, and fetal alcohol syndrome. According to the indictment, Thorsen funneled funds into his own accounts using fraudulent invoices on CDC letterhead.

He has been on the HHS “Most Wanted” list for over a decade. Acting on an INTERPOL red notice, German authorities finally took him into custody in June. The Department of Justice is now working with Germany to extradite him for trial in the United States.

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BLM Grifter Pleads Guilty To Fraud, Spending Donations On Herself

A radical leftist activist accused of defrauding her own organization plans to plead guilty to federal fraud charges.

Monica Cannon-Grant—the founder of Violence in Boston and a staunch proponent of defunding the police—filed court documents requesting a change of plea hearing, Boston25 and WCVB reported Friday.

The filing did not clarify whether she secured a plea deal with prosecutors or was simply pleading guilty to the accusations. Her trial had been scheduled for Oct. 14.

She was accused of using nonprofit funds—out of a total budget of $1 million—from 2017 to 2021 for personal expenses.

The charges, announced in 2022, amounted to a staggering 27-count superseding indictment.

The expenditures included car and insurance payments, high-end salon visits, luxury dinners, and a Maryland vacation.

She also allegedly pocketed $54,000 in taxpayer-funded pandemic relief, much of which she spent on herself.

Her husband, Clark Grant, was also indicted.

Grant’s charges came on top of charges announced by the Biden administration in 2023, including three counts of wire fraud conspiracy, 17 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy and one count of making false statements to a mortgage lender.

If found guilty on all counts, she faces a maximum sentence of 74 years in prison.

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BUSTED AGAIN! Letitia James’s Fraudulent $200,000 Credit Line Mortgage in 2021 Could Land Her in Prison for 15-30 Years

Letitia James’s New York State mortgage records indicate that she committed mortgage fraud on a $200,000 “Credit Line Mortgage” with Citizens Bank in 2021.

Like other mortgages, it requires a signed note, a mortgage document, and recording with the county clerk.

The mortgage document shows that James misrepresented her five-unit apartment building as a single-family dwelling.

This false claim allowed James to avoid significantly higher commercial loan closing costs and a higher interest rate.

In New York, the number of units in a property determines whether a loan qualifies as a residential mortgage with lower interest rates (1 to 4 family dwellings) or whether it’s a commercial/multifamily building mortgage with higher interest rates and closing costs (5 or more dwelling units).

The official Certificate of Occupancy for Letitia James’s building at 296 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn describes it as a “FIVE (5) FAMILY DWELLING.”

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Politico Is Doing Insurance Companies’ Bidding, And It’s Obvious Why

n February, I analyzed how Politico functions as a glorified patronage racket, whereby “reporters serve as a publicity rag for K Street and get paid handsomely for doing so.” Six months later, another such article serves as Example No. 8,579 (or thereabouts) of this swamp machine in action.

In this particular case, Politico published an advertisement — I mean, article — about a potential extension of Obamacare’s enhanced insurance subsidies, which expire at the end of the year. That story ignored sizable evidence of fraud associated with the subsidies, while including not a single quote from a critic or skeptic of such an extension. It looks like a not-too-subtle attempt from Politico to cheerlead for the insurance industry — i.e., its corporate subscribers.

Big Signs of Fraud

The article focused largely on Florida and highlighted that state’s sizable enrollment in Exchange coverage, particularly for households claiming very low incomes, which qualify for the biggest subsidies: 

Florida is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, so it’s more difficult for some low-income residents to qualify for the government health insurance program. The enhanced subsidies ensure that people who would be eligible under an expansion — those making just above the federal poverty level, with incomes between about $15,600 and $21,600 — can get Obamacare coverage, typically with no premiums. Two-thirds of the 4.6 million Floridians on Obamacare plans are in this gap…

But there’s one big fact Politico omitted: According to one study, while there are nearly 3.1 million Obamacare enrollees claiming income just above poverty in Florida, estimates derived from the Census Bureau suggest that only about 630,000 households actually have incomes in that range. (Disclosure: While I have done work for the Paragon Health Institute, which published the study in question, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.)

In other words, by one organization’s estimate, more than 2.4 million enrollees — over half of Florida’s total Exchange enrollment — are potentially fraudulent. These individuals may have overstated their income because households with income below the poverty level don’t qualify for subsidies at all, or conversely, they may have understated their income if they make two or three times the poverty level, so they can qualify for bigger subsidies. Alternatively, people could have been enrolled in “free” coverage without their knowledge by insurance brokers seeking commissions, an offense one Florida-based insurance executive pleaded guilty to this April.

Yet Politico mentioned none of this. It advertised the total enrollment in the Florida Exchange, and the billions of dollars in enhanced subsidies that went to Florida, without noting either the significant questions about enrollment discrepancies in Florida’s Exchange population or the fraud — totaling $133.9 million, according to the Justice Department — that one Florida-based individual has already admitted to.

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Fake Students Plague California Community Colleges, Displacing Real Enrollees

California’s community colleges are grappling with a surge in fraudulent enrollments, with 1.2 million fake applicants last year accounting for nearly 30 percent of new students, blocking real students from classes and costing millions in stolen financial aid, according to college officials.

The problem, exacerbated by the shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, affects at least 90 of the state’s 116 campuses, said Marvin Martinez, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, and Jeannie Kim, president of Santiago Canyon College.

Before the pandemic, most classes were in-person, making fraud more difficult, Martinez said. But with 80 percent of courses moving online, bots and fake students can enroll from anywhere, including other states or countries.

“It’s happened on a massive scale,” Martinez told Epoch TV’s California Insider host Siyamak Khorrami.

“What’s made this situation of fraudulent enrollment so different than anything that I’ve seen before in my 36 years in higher ed is that it’s happened in almost 80 percent now of the campuses.”

At Santiago Canyon College, fall 2024 enrollment initially spiked 10 percent to 13 percent, Kim said, but faculty discovered many registrants were fraudulent. In one anthropology course, administrators raised the enrollment cap by 30 daily, only for bots to fill slots instantly, leaving just 12 to 15 genuine students. 

Faculty identified fakes through non-engagement, identical assignments, or invalid contact details, like phone numbers tied to businesses or defunct entities. Removing fraudulent enrollments cut the college’s headcount by 10,000 to 12,000 spots, with some bad actors enrolled in up to five classes each.

The fallout is severe. Real students are denied access to required courses, delaying graduations, certificates, and transfers to four-year universities.

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DOJ Opens Grand Jury Criminal Investigation Fed Governor Lisa Cook Over Mortgage Fraud Allegations

The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook – and has issued multiple subpoenas as part of the inquiry into whether she committed mortgage fraud, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing ‘officials familiar with the matter.’

The probe – for which a grand jury has been assembled, will begin by looking at Cook’s properties in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Atlanta. It comes on the heels of two criminal investigations from Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who has been dropping receipts for weeks with evidence that Cook committed fraud – including claiming two properties as her “primary residence” – as well as claiming that a rented out third property was her ‘second home’ – all things that would qualify her for better rates and tax treatment. 

Pulte accused Cook of misleading banks on multiple mortgage applications to receive favorable lending terms, such as lower interest rates, typically given to a buyer who intends to occupy the home they purchase. 

A judge is considering Cook’s request for an emergency order stopping her from being removed from the Fed board while the case proceeds. The Fed’s next meeting is set to begin Sept. 16. -WSJ

Last Thursday, Cook filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after President Donald Trump fired her that Monday ‘for cause.’ Among the excuses contained in the lawsuit for alleged mortgage fraud was a possible clerical error. 

Except, Cook described herself in her 2023 nomination hearing as having “significant experience in banking and finance, as is evidenced by my service on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and of a Community Development Financial Institution in Michigan, in addition to my employment at an investment bank and a large commercial bank.” 

What’s more, the Federal Reserve Act allows the president to fire Fed governors ‘for cause’ – which the Trump administration claims applies. In a Tuesday court filing, Cook’s lawyers said she “did not ever commit mortgage fraud.”

Pulte shot down any notion that the fed wasn’t political in a Thursday appearance on CNBC, saying “I don’t believe for the last 4 years that the Fed has been independent.” 

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Massive Commercial Driver’s License Fraud in Jacksonville

The massive commercial driver’s license (CDL) fraud in Jacksonville has been uncovered following an investigation that revealed how individuals without English proficiency obtained these licenses using hidden devices and external accomplices. The operation, described as “organized fraud” by the Florida Highway Patrol, has raised concerns about road safety and the integrity of DMV exams.

Five people were arrested in Jacksonville, including Vladislav Juraschik, who was convicted of two felonies and sentenced to eight months in prison. They used devices such as hidden phones and earpieces to receive answers during the exams, allowing individuals without adequate knowledge to obtain commercial licenses. This practice has been linked to fatal accidents, including a case where a driver, after a deadly crash, demonstrated that he could not understand traffic signs or answer basic questions in English.

Additionally, in Bay County, two employees of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) were arrested for issuing fraudulent licenses to undocumented immigrants in exchange for bribes. The investigation, which spanned at least two years, also involved intermediaries such as the company CubaMax, which specializes in immigration procedures. Authorities confiscated $120,000 in cash during the arrests.

This scandal has exposed vulnerabilities in the commercial license issuance system and has prompted calls for comprehensive reform to ensure road safety and maintain public trust in the institutions responsible for highway security.

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