Six New Indictments Introduced As Half Of Minnesota’s Multi-Billion-Greenback Fraud Scandals
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have announced charges against six additional individuals in connection with ongoing fraud schemes targeting public assistance programs.
The charges, filed on Thursday, December 18, 2025, involve wire fraud related to a housing stabilization program and an autism services program administered through Medicaid. Five defendants face allegations tied to the housing program, while one is charged in the autism services scheme.
In the housing stabilization program, which was launched in 2020 to assist seniors and individuals with disabilities in maintaining stable housing, the five defendants are accused of submitting approximately $3.5 million in false and inflated bills for services that were not provided. Two of the defendants are from Pennsylvania, highlighting what prosecutors describe as “fraud tourism,” where individuals from outside the state exploit Minnesota’s programs.
The program, which was terminated earlier in 2025 due to widespread fraud, had paid out $302 million over 4.5 years, far exceeding its budgeted $12 million, with officials estimating that most of the spending was fraudulent.
Eight individuals were previously charged in connection with the same fraud scheme back in September, while some of the defendants have already pleaded guilty.
The autism services charge involves one defendant accused of defrauding millions from Medicaid by billing for inflated or nonexistent services. The scheme allegedly included using unqualified staff, recruiting parents — primarily from Minnesota’s Somali community — to enroll children, and paying kickbacks to participants.
This builds on earlier charges, such as the September 2025 case against Asha Farhan Hassan, 28, who was indicted for wire fraud in a $14 million autism fraud involving her role at Smart Therapy. Hassan is also linked to prior fraud, having received $465,000 from the Feeding Our Future organization, which has long been embroiled in the largest fraud scandal in the state.
State payments for autism services have surged from $1 million in 2017 to over $220 million in 2024, with much of the increase attributed to fraudulent activity
The new indictments are connected to broader fraud investigations in Minnesota, stemming from the Feeding Our Future scandal that began in 2022.
That case, the largest COVID-19-related fraud scheme in the U.S., involved 78 defendants accused of stealing nearly $250 million from federal child nutrition programs by falsifying meal claims, creating phony invoices, and using fake names. To date, 56 individuals have pleaded guilty, and seven have been convicted, including founder Aimee Bock.
The autism and housing schemes share patterns with Feeding Our Future, including recruitment tactics and exploitation of low-oversight programs under the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Overall, more than 90 people have been charged across these interconnected cases.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson: “The magnitude of the fraud in Minnesota cannot be overstated. It’s staggering amounts of money that have been lost.”
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“The fraud is not small. It isn’t isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated… What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s a staggering, industrial-scale fraud,” said acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph Thompson. He further noted that the state “has become a magnet for fraud, so much so that we have developed a fraud tourism industry.”
In reference to the housing program, Thompson said most of the $300 million in spending is fraudulent. Thompson also indicated that when investigations conclude, total fraud in Minnesota-administered programs could exceed $1 billion, with losses potentially reaching several billions more across 14 Medicaid programs flagged for significant issues.
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