US charges 15 in Minnesota $90m healthcare fraud scheme

The US Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against 15 individuals accused of defrauding a government healthcare program of $90m, marking a new phase in the Trump administration’s crackdown on alleged fraud in Minnesota’s social services.

At a news conference in Minneapolis, Assistant US Attorney General Colin McDonald described the fraud as “shocking” and labeled it a “crisis,” underscoring President Donald Trump’s focus on the state and its Democratic Governor Tim Walz.

McDonald cited an autism program where costs to taxpayers surged from $600,000 to over $400m in six years. He also noted a housing assistance program for the homeless whose costs rose from $2.5m annually in 2020 to $104m in 2024, leading to its closure in 2025 and leaving a vulnerable population without services.

Flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, head of Medicare and Medicaid, McDonald declared: “It is a crisis in Minnesota.”

“These charges 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,” McDonald said.

“The common theme throughout these cases is fraudsters exploiting vulnerable programs and vulnerable people to enrich themselves, no matter the consequences, to the programs or to the people,” he added.

Thursday’s announcement followed months of complaints from Trump about alleged rampant fraud in Minnesota, often targeting the state’s Somali community with racist rhetoric.

The fraud accusations were partly driven by a video from rightwing social media influencer Nick Shirley, focusing on a daycare center that received large sums in state and federal aid, though its name was misspelled.

The administration cited fraud as a key reason for deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Minnesota last winter, leading to protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents.

McDonald said the Justice Department deployed 11 “strike force prosecutors” from across the country to Minnesota, resulting in Thursday’s charges.

Vice President JD Vance has been put in charge of a White House initiative to root out fraud nationwide.

At the news conference, Kennedy called the prosecutions “the largest autism fraud bust in American history” and said charges were brought in record time, with more to come.

“I want to be clear: this is an extraordinary bust today, because these kind of operations usually take many years, sometimes a decade,” Kennedy said. “This was executed with a precision and speed that is unprecedented in the history of law enforcement.”

“But under Vice-President Vance’s leadership and President Trump’s direction, we are going to normalize this speed,” Kennedy added.