Tag: fraud

Ilhan Omar Knew About $250 Million Somali Fraud Scheme, Convicted Mastermind Claims in Explosive Jailhouse Interview

Aimee Bock, the convicted mastermind behind the massive $250 million Feeding Our Future COVID meal fraud scandal, has dropped a bombshell from jail, saying she believes Rep. Ilhan Omar knew exactly what was going on and actively helped keep the fraudulent program alive.

Bock, the founder of Feeding Our Future, spoke to the New York Post this week from Sherburne County Jail, where she is awaiting sentencing after her March 2025 conviction on conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud charges.

Dozens of individuals, mostly from Minnesota’s Somali community, have been convicted in the scheme that fraudulently billed the federal government for tens of millions of meals that were never served to low-income children during the pandemic.

“I struggle to believe that she wouldn’t have known,” Bock said of Omar.

Bock alleged that Omar’s office repeatedly stepped in to help secure and extend USDA waivers that dramatically loosened oversight of the child nutrition programs.

Those waivers eliminated the requirement for site inspections and allowed restaurants and other non-school entities to participate, opening the floodgates to massive fraud.

Omar personally introduced the Maintaining Essential Access to Lunch for Students (MEALS) Act in March 2020, which gave the USDA authority to issue those waivers during the pandemic.

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JD Vance Exposes $15 Million in Medicaid Theft by Single Migrant in Maine

Vice President JD Vance exposed the theft of $15 million in Medicaid funding committed by a single migrant in Maine during a visit to Bangor on Thursday.

“Fraud is exactly what happens when you’ve got a government that is not fighting for the American people but is fighting for fraudsters and illegal aliens. And it has to stop. And under the Trump administration, we are fighting it every single day,” Vance said speaking to a packed hanger at an event to boost former Gov. Paul LePage’s bid for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.

Vance, who called the State of Maine the “bronze medalist” in fraud after California and Minnesota, went on to say that LePage highlighted the fraud, but then-Democrat Attorney General Janet Mills refused to prosecute such cases.

The Ohioan pointed to just one case where a migrant billed the state for millions to provide “interpreter services” for illegal aliens, but never provided any such services at all.

“Rakiya Mohamed was not a particularly upstanding citizen… she was providing zero services and collecting $15 million over a five year period that was going directly into her pocket,” Vance said.

According to the Bangor Daily News, Rakiya Mohamed, who was associated with a company called Bright Future Healthier You, fraudulently billed Medicaid for millions in services that were never provided. Mohamed was one of four who were indicted in the scheme. Others included company president Abdihamid Hassan and Abdifitah Abdi. All three are Somali migrants. A fourth employee, Asmo Dol, was also implicated, but the suspect passed away in June only a few months after she pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Rakiya Mohamed pleaded guilty in March to filing a false tax return.

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GOP Rep. Steube: Blue States ‘Perpetuating Fraud’ to Drive Up the Number of the Amount of Money for Federal Programs

During an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “The Evening Edit,” Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) explained how some blue states turned a blind eye to fraud related to federal government programs, in particular Medicaid.

The Florida Republican reacted to comments from Vice President JD Vance, who said Democrat blue states were not investigating and prosecuting fraud.

Vance explained, “The Hawaii Medicaid Program has received billions and billions of dollars from the federal taxpayers. Guess how many convictions or indictments has Hawaii had over the last few years in its Medicaid fraud program? The answer is zero. Not a single indictment, not a single conviction. That means that if you’re committing fraud in Medicaid in Hawaii, you have had effectively free reign from the government of Hawaii to commit as much fraud as you want. That is a complete disgrace. New York has had nine indictments over the last year, nine indictments. That’s a $100 billion Medicaid program just in New York. Indiana, which has about a third of the population of the state of the New York, has had more than four times as many indictments over the same period.”

According to Steube, those states were allowing fraud to drive up spending numbers for those government programs.

Host Elizabeth MacDonald said, “You see what the Vice President is saying, Congressman, that basically, blue states are not interested in discovering fraud, but red Republican states are. What’s going on here?”

Steube replied, “Yes, they’re absolutely — they are perpetuating the fraud in these Democratic states because they want to drive up the number of the amount of money that comes to those states on these federal programs. I certainly hope that, with the President and the Vice President focused on this, that the DOJ is going to look at this, and the way that we can keep this from happening is keep federal dollars from going to these states until they go after this fraud, waste and abuse that’s happening.”

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Fmr Newsom top aide admits guilt in fraud scheme, takes plea deal

Dana Williamson, a former top aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom, pleaded guilty to federal fraud and tax charges as part of a plea deal agreement following accusations that she stole campaign funds from gubernatorial candidate and former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Williamson, who served as former chief of staff for the California governor from 2022 to 2024, appeared at the Robert T. Matsui Courthouse in Sacramento, California on Thursday. While there, she entered a guilty plea to charges including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to Eastern District of California court documents.

“Dana Williamson and her co-conspirators weaponized public trust for personal gain. They stole from a campaign account, fabricated contracts, filed false tax returns, and lied to federal agents … No title and no political connection places anyone above the law,” said FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel in a statement.

The former aide was arrested last November on 23 counts tied to what prosecutors described as a scheme to steal $225,000 from one of Becerra’s dormant campaign accounts to fund her personal expenses, including a $150,000 birthday trip to Mexico, tens of thousands of dollars spent on Chanel and Fendi handbags and an HVAC system for her home.

Prosecutors also accused her of conspiring with Becerra’s former chief of staff Sean McCluskie and lobbyist Greg Campbell to move the money from Becerra’s dormant account to pay for McCluskie’s wife’s no-show job after Becerra was elected head of the HHS under former President Joe Biden, according to prosecutors.

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Vance demands all 50 states crack down on Medicaid fraud

Vice President JD Vance has warned that the government may withhold federal Medicaid funds from states that fail to crack down on Medicaid fraud. This comes as the Trump administration launches a crackdown on suspected fraud in state programs and defers $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from California.

The initiative came as people across the U.S. have expressed concern about increasing health costs and barriers to access, some of which come from the federal government’s own acts.

“We’re announcing that the federal government is deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from the state of California. And the simple reason is because the state of California has not taken fraud very seriously. We want California to get serious about this fraud,” said Vance at news conference.

The vice president was joined by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and other officials, who all outlined new requirements for Medicaid programs in all 50 states, including showing aggressive prosecution of fraud or risk losing government funding for their anti-fraud units.

Dr. Oz referenced data from the White House Fraud Task Force on rapid growth in California’s hospice and home health sectors and described a “stunning level of suspected Medicaid and hospice fraud” uncovered in California, such as a 1,500% increase in hospice claims.

“In February, we had the largest anti-fraud announcement from CMS. Today’s effort is larger. It’s much larger, and there’s a reason for that. Half of the fraud, we believe, in the federal government, could be coming out of health care services,” said Oz.

Vance also singled out Hawaii and New York as potential targets for Medicaid fraud as they have not taken the fraud issue seriously.

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“Completely Insane”: Federal Govt Withholds $1.3BN In Medicaid Reimbursements To California, Citing Fraud

The Trump administration will withhold $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California due to potentially fraudulent billing patterns, Vice President JD Vance announced on May 13.

The action comes among a host of others taken recently to crack down on fraudulent activity in Medicare and Medicaid.

“We want to protect these programs for the kids and the families who need them. We want to ensure that the American taxpayer isn’t getting fleeced,” Vance told reporters.

Analysis of Medicaid billing patterns in California aroused suspicion, according to Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“We’ve discovered $630 million in billing from folks who are egregiously the top 5 percent of outliers in billing. These numbers are so big you can’t imagine anyone billing for these [amounts],” Oz told reporters.

California itself is an outlier among states, Oz said.

“In California, the growth of spending on personal care services is twice the rate of the average of the rest of the country,” Oz said.

“We estimate there’s $500 million that could be a risk of being taken from federal taxpayers.”

Fewer than 20 of 800 Medicare providers recently removed from the program due to suspicious billing activity have called to complain, Oz said, offering that as evidence that they likely were not legitimate providers.

VP Vance responded with a double take after hearing that wild stat from Dr. Oz:

“You’re saying that we kicked off 800 fraudulent healthcare providers off of the Medicare system and not a single one of them called the government and said, ‘hey, you made a mistake?'”

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Former CDC Autism Scientist Extradited to U.S. on Fraud, Money Laundering Charges

A former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist who played a key role in research that denied any link between vaccination and autism was extradited to the U.S. last week to face charges of wire fraud and money laundering stemming from a 2011 indictment.

Poul Thorsen, 65, a Danish native, began working for the CDC in the late 1990s. In 2011, a federal grand jury indicted him for the alleged misuse of over $1 million in CDC grant money that was earmarked for autism and public health research. Thorsen is accused of redirecting the funds for his personal use.

Despite the indictment — and the existence of an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Denmark — Thorsen continued to live and work in Denmark. However, he was arrested in Germany last year on an INTERPOL warrant.

On May 8, U.S. Air Marshals escorted him from Germany to Atlanta, where he was arraigned.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which listed Thorsen on its most wanted list in 2012, posted a video of his extradition.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Thorsen faces two counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering. He is being held without bail until trial.

In 2011, studies Thorsen co-authored were used to dismiss cases filed by the parents of autistic, vaccine-injured children that were part of the Omnibus Autism Proceedings pending before the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

A 2016 book, “Master Manipulator: The Explosive True Story of Fraud, Embezzlement, and Government Betrayal at the CDC,” focused on the Thorsen case, describing him as “a world-class villain whose manipulation of health data gave CDC and big pharma what they wanted: a report clearing thimerosal of any possible role in the autism crisis.”

Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), said Thorsen “was central to the CDC and Pharma lies that ‘vaccines do not cause autism.’”

Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for CHD, said Thorsen’s work “set autism research back more than 20 years.”

“Previous administrations did not appear interested in pursuing Thorsen,” according to the MAHA Report. As a result, Thorsen was “living openly, apparently without concern of being captured in Denmark.”

HHS and DOJ did not respond to The Defender’s requests for comment.

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Oz: Chinese Government Involved in Fraud, Suspect Russia, Cuba as Well

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz discussed fraud and said that “We’ve got the Chinese government involved in a big fraud ring in New York” in addition to suspected fraud that the Russian and Cuban governments are involved in.

Guest host Kayleigh McEnany asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:25] “[L]ast time, when I spoke with you, you talked about the Cuban government possibly being involved in some Florida fraud, but it’s bigger than that. There are many foreign [governments] that are getting taxpayer dollars and taking advantage of taxpayers, tell me about what you found.”

Oz responded, “Well, we’ve got Russian government involvement, we believe, in Los Angeles. We’ve got the Chinese government involved in a big fraud ring in New York. And, of course, the Cuban connection that you mentioned was pointed out to me by the former mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, who pointed out that we’ve got twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers — they sell wheelchairs and canes — twice as many as there are McDonald’s in South Florida and the owners all seem to be Cuban and they flee back to Cuba with the money when we come after them.”

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Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Name Pops Up MULTIPLE Times in $250 MILLION Feeding Our Future Fraud Emails – Including One Titled “Ilhan’s Office” – But the Radical Squad Member REFUSES to Turn Over Documents to Minnesota Investigators

Fresh court exhibits from the massive $250 MILLION Feeding Our Future fraud trial have revealed that Rep. Ilhan Omar’s name appeared MULTIPLE times in email chains and text messages with convicted fraudster Aimee Bock, the mastermind behind the largest COVID-era fraud scheme targeting children’s nutrition programs.

According to trial exhibits unsealed in Aimee Bock’s case, Omar’s office was directly involved in communications with the fraud ring.

According to resurfaced trial exhibits from Bock’s 2025 conviction on wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery charges, one email chain between Bock and Omar’s office was literally titled “Ilhan’s Office.”

Another email from February 2021 carried the subject line “help with USDA food program,” right in the middle of the massive scam that funneled hundreds of millions in federal pandemic funds to fake meal sites, luxury cars, jewelry, and overseas real estate, according to the New York Post.

Text messages recovered during a raid of Bock’s Minnesota home also show direct communication between the fraudster and Omar’s congressional staff.

More from the Post:

A few days after Bock’s email to Omar, on Feb. 28, Bock exchanged messages with Abdikerm Eidleh, a Feeding Our Future employee who fled the country after he was indicted in 2022. The subject line of their emails was “Ilhan’s Office,” according to the court documents.

While the list of exhibits is public, the contents have been sealed by the court.

The exhibits also include a text message string between Bock and Omar, which was uncovered during a raid of Bock’s Minnesota house, records show.

Bock has been leaking documents from behind bars through her college-age son ahead of her sentencing to try to shift some of the blame to elected officials, Minnesota federal prosecutors have alleged.

It’s unclear if those leaked documents were related to Omar.

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How a Scientific Cartel Protects Fraudsters and Rakes in Billions of Taxpayer Dollars

I was 22 when my grandmother forgot me.

It took her 12 years to die from Alzheimer’s. It started with little things, like where her glasses were or what day it was. Soon she didn’t know who I was. For a while, she addressed me as her son, but then, as the disease ate away more of her mind, she forgot him too. Then I was the young, handsome version of her husband, until he too faded away. After a while, I was just a nice young man who came to visit her.

The rest of the time, she was afraid: waking up in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by people she’d never met, confused that she wasn’t back home in Minnesota, where she’d grown up. It hit my mom the hardest. She did everything she could to take care of her own mother, watching the brilliant, kind woman she knew rot into a husk of her former self.

My grandmother died on Christmas Eve. As sad as it was, it was a blessing for my mom, who was finally freed from her duty of watching the woman she loved the most waste away.

The Alzheimer’s Researcher Who Became a Poster Child for Academic Fraud

Sylvain Lesné, a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota, published a paper in Nature in 2006 claiming to identify a specific amyloid beta protein assembly as the direct cause of memory impairment in Alzheimer’s. This reinvigorated the amyloid hypothesis at a moment when skepticism about it was ramping up. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) devoted $1.6 billion to projects that mention amyloids in 2022 alone, nearly half of all federal Alzheimer’s funding that year. Lesné was a star.

But there were rumblings. Numerous amyloid drugs made it to trials with billions invested by pharmaceutical companies. They failed repeatedly. A question arose in the pharmaceutical community: How can this be right? How can the trials keep failing if the underlying research is correct? 

In 2022, the Vanderbilt neuroscientist Matthew Schrag uncovered evidence that images in Lesné’s paper had been manipulated. Science magazine found more than 20 suspect papers by Lesné, with over 70 instances of possible image tampering. Nature retracted the paper in June 2024. Every author except Lesné signed the retraction. Lesné himself resigned from his tenured position at the University of Minnesota on March 1, 2025, three years after his fraud was exposed.

More news and details trickled out over time. Charles Piller’s 2025 book Doctored talks about the Amyloid Mafia, a nickname for a network that had prioritized novelty over replication and marginalized dissenters for decades. Anyone questioning the amyloid gospel was pushed out and watched their funding vanish.

When I first picked up that Science article, I hadn’t considered academic fraud as something that was real and widespread. As I thought about it more, I was filled with a deep, bitter hatred. For his own pride, greed, and acclaim, this man had doomed millions of people like my grandmother to slow, horrible deaths and millions more like my mom to agonizing years as caregivers.

Lesné resigned, but was still rich. None of his grant money was clawed back. The system that was supposed to catch this—peer review, university compliance, journal editorial boards—failed repeatedly for years.

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