Tag: fraud

Convicted Democrat Voter Fraudster Who Pleaded Guilty on 106 Felony Charges Now Running Again for Mayor in Texas

A man who was convicted on 106 felony counts of voter fraud after he tried to rig a mayoral race with forged mail-in ballots is back on the ballot, running for mayor again in Carrollton, Texas.

Back in October 2020, The Gateway Pundit reported that Texas Democrat mayoral candidate Zul Mirza Mohamed (D) was arrested and charged with 109 felony counts in a brazen mail-in ballot fraud scheme while running for mayor of Carrollton

Zul Mohamed forged absentee ballot request applications for unsuspecting Carrollton residents and had the ballots sent to a fake “nursing home” address that was actually a P.O. Box he rented at a Lewisville mail store.

He did it using a fictitious Texas driver’s license and a fake University of North Texas student ID. When authorities searched his home, they found a fake insurance ID, a fake notary stamp, and a box full of Dallas and Denton County ballot applications.

He was originally hit with 25 counts of Unlawful Possession of Ballot/Ballot Envelope w/o Request of Voter (second-degree felonies) and 84 counts of Fraudulent Use of Mail Ballot Application (third-degree felonies). Three counts were later dropped.

Fast forward to December 2024, Mohamed pleaded guilty to 106 felony charges, 25 counts of the method of returning ballot and 81 counts of fraudulent use of an application for ballot by mail. A Denton County jury sentenced him to four years in prison and 10 years of probation.

He appealed the conviction, served just one month behind bars, and was released on bond.

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FRAUD FUGITIVE ON THE RUN: $11M Medicaid Scam Suspect Flees U.S. Before Trial After Posting Bond — Critics BLAST Tim Walz’s “Soft-on-Crime” System for Letting Him Keep Passport

In another jaw-dropping example of Minnesota’s collapsing justice system under far-left Governor Tim Walz, a major fraud kingpin in the state’s largest-ever Medicaid scam has skipped the country, just days before his high-profile trial was set to begin.

Abdirashid Said, the top defendant in a sprawling $11 million personal care assistant (PCA) fraud scheme, is now a fugitive after skipping a scheduled pretrial hearing in Hennepin County.

The trial, expected to last weeks and expose a massive web of fraud targeting taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs, has now been abruptly canceled.

According to reporting from KARE 11’s Lou Raguse, Said had been facing serious charges including racketeering, aiding and abetting theft by swindle, and perjury.

Prosecutors alleged he played a central role in a coordinated scheme involving PCA companies that billed Medicaid for services that were never performed, effectively siphoning millions from taxpayers.

Said had already been convicted of fraud in a previous scheme and was ordered by a judge NOT to work for any company receiving Medicaid funds, KARE 11 reported.

Yet he allegedly continued the grift, complete with perjury on the witness stand, where he claimed massive checks were just “loans and gifts” to pay off prior restitution.

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California Attorney General Charges 21 Suspects in $267 Million Hospice Fraud Ring

Democrat officials in California are suddenly interested in prosecuting hospice fraudsters after the Justice Department created a division dedicated to arresting fraudsters.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) on Thursday announced his office charged 21 suspects in a $267 million hospice fraud ring in Southern California.

Five of the 21 suspects have been arrested so far.

“California Attorney General Rob Bonta, together with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), today announced charges filed against 21 suspects and the dismantling of a major hospice fraud scheme that defrauded California of $267 million,” Bonta’s office said.

“Operation Skip Trace resulted in the arrest of five people after ten different locations were searched in Southern California. In addition, two handguns and over $757,000 in cash were seized,” Bonta’s office announced.

“Investigators found that those involved purchased personal identifying information for people living outside of California on the dark web, then enrolled them in Covered California by posing as California residents,” Fox News reported.

“Straw owners” then bought a number of hospice companies and began billing Medi-Cal for services never provided to those stolen identities. The suspects used fake records, nonexistent offices, and fraudulent diagnoses to justify these claims, Bonta said.” – the outlet said.

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Fraud Task Force, DOJ Prosecute Half-a-Billion Dollars in Health Care, COVID Schemes

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced three separate criminal and civil actions on April 7 seeking to hold two individuals and two companies accountable for schemes to steal more than $500 million from taxpayer-funded programs.

The defendants are two companies implicated in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) fraud scheme, a California man pleading guilty to medication reimbursement fraud, and a Nevada woman sentenced to prison for COVID-19 tax credit fraud, the department said in an April 7 statement.

The DOJ said its efforts support President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President JD Vance, which aims to clean up federal benefit programs.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, the Department, working closely with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is supercharging efforts to take down every fraudster and bring them to justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

“In one day, the Department prosecuted the theft of a half-billion in taxpayer dollars. All those ripping off the American people are on notice.”

Obamacare Scheme

One case involves insurance brokerage company AP of South Florida LLC (APSF), which is accused of fraudulently enrolling thousands of vulnerable people into fully federally subsidized ACA plans, also known as Obamacare. The scheme resulted in the federal government paying $141.5 million in unwarranted subsidies.

APSF targeted vulnerable, low-income people who were unemployed, homeless, or experiencing mental health and substance abuse disorders. Most of them did not meet the minimum eligibility requirements for ACA subsidies.

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California Supreme Court Orders Sheriff Bianco to Pause His Massive Election Fraud Investigation and Preserve 650,000 Ballots He Seized

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Sheriff Chad Bianco to pause his massive election fraud investigation and preserve the 650,000 ballots he seized.

Last month, a state appellate court rejected California Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta’s emergency writ to halt Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s bombshell investigation into 45,000 extra votes mysteriously counted in the November 2025 special election.

Chad Bianco, a Republican currently running for California governor as a Republican, moved to seize approximately 650,000 ballots and initiate a recount after a citizens’ group reported significant discrepancies, according to CalMatters.

Bianco revealed that a team of 10 investigators had already begun counting ballots before being ordered to halt their work, as part of an ongoing election investigation, The Sun reported.

According to Bianco, the team’s initial progress suggested that counting the approximately 611,000 ballots would take about five days to complete. However, the effort was paused before a full review could be conducted.

Earlier this week Bianco paused his investigation because of the onslaught of legal issues.

California Attorney General Bonta slammed Sheriff Bianco and celebrated the State Supreme Court’s order.

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JD Vance’s Task Force Uncovers $6 Billion in Potential Fraud, Begins Taking Action: Report

Vice President J.D. Vance has reportedly uncovered over $6 billion in potential fraud after President Donald Trump tapped him to lead a nationwide task force meant to root out criminal activity.

The task force has identified $6.3 billion in government contracts linked to potentially fraudulent businesses, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday.

“The task force, alongside the General Services Administration (GSA), are beginning to send out letters to nearly 400 businesses with government contracts that they believe could be fraudulent,” according to the report. The investigation found 895 contracts awarded to 392 businesses, totaling $6.3 billion, “with $3 billion still left to be rewarded.”

These businesses will have 30 days to prove their legitimacy and must provide evidence of a real, physical location where their operations take place.

The task force was created shortly after reports circulated of mass fraud that was uncovered in Minnesota earlier this year, when multiple day care centers — many run by Somali immigrants — were found to have no children enrolled, yet were still receiving massive quantities of taxpayer funds.

The Department of Justice estimated that several billion dollars have been stolen by phony organizations in Minnesota alone. The DOJ cited examples of waste and mismanagement of social services programs meant to provide food and health care for the needy.

In his executive order establishing the task force, Trump wrote, “The staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota alone is a case in point. Federal prosecutors in the State estimate that Medicaid fraud in recent years could total in the billions. Nearly 9 percent of the roughly $866 million spent on food stamps in Minnesota each year is estimated to be spent in error.”

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U.S. Marshals RAID Home of Former Republican Lobbyist Jim Courtovich

U.S. Marshals raided the upscale home of former Republican lobbyist Jim Courtovich, enforcing a federal court order tied to a $4 million judgment stemming from allegations of financial misconduct.

Courtovich, the founder of Sphere Consulting and a fixture on the K Street party circuit, once rubbed elbows with media elites and GOP heavyweights.

During the 2016 Republican primary, Courtovich supported Jeb Bush, one of Trump’s main rivals. He reportedly did not vote in the 2016 general election.

According to a report from The New York Times and journalist Brody Mullins, a team of armed federal agents arrived at Courtovich’s multimillion-dollar residence near Kalorama just before 10 a.m., loudly announcing their presence and warning they were prepared to forcibly enter if necessary.

The raid enforces a federal court judgment ordering him to repay $4 million-plus, in what Saudi-backed investors claim was a brazen breach of contract and outright fraud.

“US Marshals this morning raided the home of Jim Courtovich, the once-high flying Republican lobbyist & fixer.
Saudi & other business partners had won a judgment against him for stealing $4m, & the raid was an effort to collect, reports Brody Mullins, who was on the scene & has a lively dispatch in his new Influence newsletter.”

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O’Keefe Media Group: California’s Top Controller Communications Official Admits Audits “Are Not Getting Done”

The O’Keefe Media Group on Tuesday released undercover video of California’s top Controller Communications official admitting that audits “are not getting done” while acknowledging that fraud is rampant in the state.

Bismarck Obando told an undercover O’Keefe Media Group journalist that there is no plan to tackle homelessness.

“Do you feel there’s fraud going on in the state of California?” the OMG journalist asked Obando.

Without skipping a beat he replied, “Everywhere, cities, counties, special districts, hospitals, insurance companies.”

“We just can’t conduct the audits,” Obando told the journalist.

“It’s funny because they haven’t funded us to do those audits…they keep cutting our auditing teams,” he said.

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SoCal: Orange County Man Pleads Guilty to Submitting $270 Million in Fraudulent Claims to Medi-Cal in 11 Months: DOJ

A man in Orange County, California, pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scheme to steal $270 million in bogus Medi-Cal claims in 11 months, the DOJ announced on Tuesday.

“Paul Richard Randall, 66, of Orange, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of wire fraud committed while on release. He has been in federal custody since June 2025,” the DOJ said.

According to federal prosecutors, Randall and others, through a business called Monte Vista Pharmacy, submitted claims for expensive prescription drugs that contained generic ingredients that were “not medically necessary.”

Monte Vista Pharmacy billed Medi-Cal millions of dollars a month after it suspended its requirement that healthcare providers “obtain prior authorization before providing certain health care services or medications as a condition of reimbursement,” the DOJ said.

Medi-Cal suspended the prior authorization as it transitioned to a new payment system.

Of the $270 million that was billed to Medi-Cal, Randall and his co-conspirators received $178 million.

Randall and the other defendants laundered the money by transferring the funds to a third party to pay “kickbacks” to Patricia Anderson, 58, of West Hills.

Randall is facing up to 30 years in federal prison.

“This defendant used a public health program as his personal piggy bank,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “This guilty plea should send a message that this administration — consistent with the President’s war on fraud — will not turn a blind eye while criminals fleece taxpayers.”

“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, the Department, working closely with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is supercharging efforts to take down every fraudster and bring them to justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“In one day, the Department prosecuted the theft of a half-billion in taxpayer dollars. All those ripping off the American people are on notice,” Blanche added.

“The defendant was a repeat fraudster who caused Medi-Cal, a program designed to help those in need, to be billed nearly $270 million for expensive and medically unnecessary medications,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“He and his co-schemers stole over $178 million through false and fraudulent claims for these medications, lining their own pockets with public funds. The Criminal Division will aggressively prosecute those who defraud Medicaid and exploit taxpayer-funded benefit programs,” he said.

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California FRAUD SCANDAL Keeps Getting Worse: LA School District Employee Accused of Running $22M Kickback Scheme

The latest corruption case in California’s public education system serves as a warning sign of a deeper structural failure—one that reflects weak oversight, misplaced priorities, and leadership that has consistently failed to enforce accountability.

As the Los Angeles Times reported, a former Los Angeles Unified School District employee is accused of directing $22 million in contracts to a private technology firm in exchange for roughly $3 million in kickbacks. 

Prosecutors have described the scheme as the largest of its kind in the district’s history, involving shell companies, manipulated bidding processes, and deliberate efforts to conceal wrongdoing.

The details are not merely concerning—they are revealing. According to the complaint, the employee allegedly controlled the contract selection process, removed oversight personnel, and coordinated directly with the vendor to ensure favorable outcomes. 

At one point, messages cited by prosecutors indicate explicit awareness of wrongdoing, including instructions to delete communications and avoid detection.

This level of coordination does not occur in a system with strong safeguards. It occurs in a system where oversight mechanisms either fail or can be easily bypassed.

That reality leads to a broader question: how does a scheme of this scale operate for years inside one of the largest school districts in the country without being stopped?

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