Trump officials come to St. Cloud as part of continued fight over fraud

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (FOX 9) - Trump administration officials put Minnesota at the center of a fraud crackdown on Thursday, as Election Day approaches and Democrats accused them of selective enforcement.

Minnesota raids and fraud charges

What we know:

On Thursday, federal officials said 17 search warrants were served on four targets.

New federal charges allege $41 million in fraud at autism centers, with about half allegedly tied to Smart Therapy, the autism center whose owner was the first defendant charged with autism fraud.

Local perspective:

"Our nation's war on fraud started right here in Minnesota. It's not an issue to be proud about, it's just a reality," said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. CMS has frozen about $550 million in federal Medicaid assistance to Minnesota based on suspected criminal activity.

Big picture view:

"I would say that we are at ground zero for per capita [fraud], given the population of Minnesota and this fraud that we've seen," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

According to court cases filed to date, prosecutors have alleged almost $550 million in fraud in Minnesota. That works out to about $94 for every resident of the state.

In Florida, prosecutors have alleged more than $14.6 billion in fraud. That is more than $622 per resident, significantly more than Minnesota.

Why officials picked Minnesota

Dig deeper:

Federal officials also used the stop to defend why Minnesota was the place for the announcement.

Senate Democrats accused the administration of targeting blue states with its enforcement.

"When I speak to Dr. Oz, he tells me what's going on in his home state of Florida, that there is substantial fraud going on there. Many of it offshore, uh, much of it in the medical equipment industry. So, you know, again, the Democrats have let this happen on their watch, whether it's here or in their states, they are trying to deflect, and it's going everywhere, and we're going to track them down," said Bessent. "But I can tell you that the guardrails tend to be loosest in the Democratic states."

"This FBI will continue to follow the money. We will continue working with our inter-agency partners, and we will put every last one of you in prison," said FBI Director Kash Patel.

What we don't know:

It is not exactly clear why officials chose St. Cloud for the announcement. Hoggard reported that the new information released Thursday focused on raids in Edina and St. Louis Park.

Bessent said the U.S. attorney invited the group to St. Cloud to talk about how the administration is cracking down on fraud.