Fraud Likely Exceeds $9 Billion in Minnesota Run Medicaid Services

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson. (Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer)

(Minnesota Reformer) – A Minnesota safety net program was so easy to scam, it attracted tourists, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said.

Two Philadelphia men, Anthony Waddell Jefferson, 37, and Lester Brown, 53, heard that Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program was “easy money,” so they traveled to Minnesota, enrolled their companies into the program, returned to Philly and submitted fraudulent claims from there, Thompson said in a news conference announcing charges against the two men and several others. They obtained $3.5 million in Medicaid payments through this “fraud tourism,” Thompson said.

The extent of fraud in Minnesota human services programs — which has become infamous across the country — is even higher than the public knew.

Providers in 14 “high-risk,” state-run Medicaid programs being audited by the state have billed $18 billion since 2018, and “half or more” is possibly fraudulent, Thompson said.

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