Minnesota fraud: MN officials to testify at Congressional hearing this week

GOP Rep. Hudson on MN fraud hearings in Washington, D.C.

Minnesota State Rep. Hudson (R-Albertville) spoke about the upcoming hearings that will be held in Washington, D.C. on the fraud in Minnesota. Hudson will testify at the first of the two hearings.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota officials will face a Congressional hearing this week over concerns of rampant fraud in the state's Medicaid programs that have come under heavy scrutiny in recent months.

Minnesota fraud hearing

What we know:

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday morning.

Three Minnesota Republican lawmakers are scheduled to testify as part of the hearing, including Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson, and Marion Rarick. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who heads the committee, says he has also invited Gov. Walz and Attorney General Ellison to testify at a future hearing in February.

Rep. Comer has recently sent inquires to Minnesota officials seeking transcribed interviews and documents related to the fraud investigation in the state.

What they're saying:

Rep. Hudson spoke with FOX 9 Morning News on Sunday about the upcoming hearing.

"My objective and the objective of my colleagues, Chair Kristen Robbins and Representative Marion Rarick, is to drag this back to the core issues of government oversight and program integrity and to enter facts into the congressional record and observations that are backed up with documentation and media reporting that indicate that we have a real problem here in the state of Minnesota," said Rep. Hudson.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy told FOX 9 she feels the Republicans would rather "play political games" than actually do anything about fraud.

"I think there is a lot of work to continue to make sure that we are fixing fraud, and you will see coming again from the Senate Democrats a package of proposals that shore up human services, to continue the work that happened last session to reform programs like housing stabilization," said Murphy. "We are taking this very seriously, we want to talk with Minnesotans about it and I think it is important, if we get a platform in Congress, that we should do the very same thing because we are very serious, and we're not going to play any games with this. It's too important."

Minnesota fraud concerns

The backstory:

Fraud in Minnesota has been a hot topic nationwide in recent weeks but FOX 9 has been covering the issue for years. We have closely watched the federal prosecution of $300 million in fraud against the federal child nutrition program during the pandemic, which includes the massive Feeding Our Future scheme coordinated by now-convicted ringleaders Aimee Bock and Salim Said.

Dozens of others have been convicted for their roles in the scheme, which largely includes claiming to serve thousands upon thousands of meals to children, and collecting millions in taxpayer dollars.

Dig deeper:

The Feeding Our Future scheme led investigators to uncover fraud in other Medicaid programs, like Housing Stabilization, a program to help people with autism, and most recently Integrated Community Supports – a service that provides assistance for people with disabilities living on their own.

Last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson suggested that fraud against 14 vulnerable Medicaid programs in Minnesota since 2018 could end up totaling as high as $9 billion or more.

"You don't see fraud on this scale in other states. And, part of that is just, we sit here as a team, and it's a relatively small team or a relatively small U.S. Attorney's Office. And every day we look under a rock and find a new $50 million fraud scheme. That shouldn't be the case in a state of our size. Certainly other states have problems with fraud, but I think our problem is unique."

Big picture view:

The issue of fraud has further exploded following the release of a YouTube video by conservative content creator Nick Shirley that claimed to uncover $110 million in fraud at Minnesota day care centers.

Shirley claimed to visit ten centers that were empty

The other side:

Gov. Walz and his administration have disputed that $9 billion figure, saying there isn't any evidence at this point to suggest the fraud in Minnesota is that rampant.

At the same time, Walz has taken steps to stem any fraud, pausing licensing for suspect programs, and tapping a former Minnesota BCA superintendent to head up a new state fraud prevention program.