Federal prosecutors: Minnesota fraud crisis could top $9B

Feds share new numbers on MN fraud

Federal prosecutors shared new numbers on fraud in Minnesota, which could top $9 billion. FOX 9's Soyoung Kim has more. 

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Federal prosecutors said they are just getting started looking into Minnesota’s social services fraud schemes.

 The U.S. Attorney’s Office shared staggering new numbers Thursday.

Tip of the iceberg

The backstory:

The Feeding Our Future case was just the tip of the iceberg for fraud in Minnesota, according to federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the state’s Medicaid fraud could possibly exceed $9 billion.

What we know:

 According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services, the 14 Medicaid programs at the center of investigations in Minnesota have cost $18 billion since 2018.

Officials said they flagged similar patterns of explosive growth in those programs.

What they're saying:

Prosecutors said at this time, they couldn't provide a final figure for the scale or portion of fraud in the state. However, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said he suspects it could roughly be $9 billion dollars or more.

"What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s a staggering industrial scale fraud," said Thompson.

"I don’t make these generalizations in a hasty way, so when I say a significant amount, I’m talking in the order of half or more. When I look at the claim providers and data, I see more red flags than I see legitimate providers and overwhelmingly so."

What's next:

Prosecutors said they expect to see additional charges in the coming weeks and months.