DOJ Charges 15 in Minnesota Medicaid Fraud Schemes Totaling $90 Million

The schemes included billing for services never provided and paying kickbacks to families for autism diagnoses regardless of medical need. One program for people with disabilities was allegedly used to generate millions while a patient who was supposed to receive 24-hour care received none and later died.

Prosecutors described it as the largest autism fraud scheme ever charged in a Medicaid case.

“Investigators uncovered brazen schemes that billed taxpayers for nonexistent services, fraudulent diagnoses, and fake care, while criminals enriched themselves at public expense.”

One defendant remains at large after leaping from a fourth-story balcony to evade arrest earlier Thursday. Officials said the remaining suspects are being sought by law enforcement. Proceeds from the schemes were spent on real estate, vehicles, and jewelry. McDonald warned that the fraudsters' days of freedom are numbered.

The charges come the same day a woman convicted in a separate pandemic-era fraud case was sentenced to more than 41 years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $243 million. Officials said the Department of Justice has brought 450 fraud enforcement actions nationwide since April 1.

The Trump administration has deferred hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns. State officials have disputed estimates that total fraud could reach $9 billion.