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Tag: Fraud

  • Gov. Walz unveils anti-fraud bill after feds halt $259 million in Medicaid to Minnesota

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    Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz laid out his anti-fraud legislative package on Thursday, one day after the White House paused $259 million in federal Medicaid payments to the state until a comprehensive action plan is laid out to fight fraud.

    The package focuses on three main components:

    • Better detection and oversight
    • Strengthened investigative and enforcement authority
    • Increased criminal penalties

    “Any dollar of state money, especially those being used for programs to enhance people’s lives, if that goes to the wrong place, is misspent, or in the case of this, criminals are stealing it, we need to do everything possible to prosecute that,” Walz said.

    Vice President JD Vance and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on Wednesday the funding freeze is part of a broader national crackdown on misuse of public funds following several high-profile fraud cases in the state, including the Feeding our Future scandal. He said the state has 60 days to respond.

    “All we need the governor and administration of Minnesota to do is something quite simple, is to show when they’re giving Medicaid funds to somebody that you’re taking seriously the funds that you’re providing, and the fact that there are so many people handing out millions and billions of dollars without confirming that they are doing the thing that they are doing. It’s a disgrace and we are stopping it,” Vance said.

    Walz said Thursday the Trump administration’s move “is absolutely not serious,” and it’s “not meant to fight fraud.”

    “How does taking and punishing children and elderly have anything to do with fighting fraud when that’s not where this issue is taking place?” Walz said.

    The governor added the Medicaid pause is “totally illegal and unprecedented.”

    “We’re at a crossroads here in Minnesota. If you like talking about fraud and you think it’s an electoral issue for you, that’s gone. I’m not running. That’s gone,” Walz said. “If you’re serious about fighting fraud, you can help us work on this package, get this package passed.”

    Following Wednesday’s Medicaid announcement, Walz took to social media following the announcement, saying in part the move is another piece in a “campaign of retribution” against Minnesota.

    “Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz said. “These cuts will be devastating for veterans, families with young kids, folks with disabilities and working people across our state.”

    Shireen Gandhi, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, echoed Walz’s sentiment, saying Vance’s announcement is “part of a broad and sustained attack.”

    “Deferring $259 million will significantly harm the state’s health care infrastructure and the 1.2 million Minnesotans who depend on Medicaid,” Gandhi said.

    This story will be updated.

    Stephen Swanson and

    Aki Nace

    contributed to this report.

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    Beret Leone

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  • Fraud is in focus at Minnesota Capitol. What are some proposals can Minnesotans expect?

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    Fraudsters have stolen millions in taxpayer money in Minnesota, putting pressure on lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to find solutions. Republicans and Democrats alike say doing so is a top priority for them this year, but they have different approaches to a fix. 

    Last session in a divided Legislature—which is the same political makeup this year with a tied Minnesota House—lawmakers made kickbacks illegal, allowed payment pauses to providers at the first signs of fraud and added new protections for whistleblowers, among other provisions. 

    What cleared the Senate with broad bipartisan support but not the House: a new independent Office of Inspector General to investigate fraud. Its future this year, though, is unclear since Republicans and Democrats in the House are at odds over what that new agency should look like.

    “We’ve got to get away from thinking that there’s just one bill on this, which has been the Republican approach of like the OIG is the end all be all—it’s not,” said Rep. Zack Stephenson, the House DFL leader. 

    An Office of Inspector General is one proposal in a package of bills the House DFL brought forward Tuesday, though it differs from the Senate approach that has the support of a majority of both parties in that chamber and House Republicans. 

    Stephenson said the Senate version doesn’t do enough on the front end to stop fraud from happening in the first place, but Republicans have sharply criticized the removal of the law enforcement bureau from the House DFL plan, which they say is a key tool that would give the office much-needed authority. 

    Twice in the last two weeks, that proposal has stalled in a House committee because neither side could come to consensus on how to move forward. 

    “We’re not going to let that bill move forward until we have a permanent solution to fraud and we think that that should be the goal is preventing fraud so it doesn’t happen in the first place,” Stephenson said Tuesday. “It isn’t good enough just to lock up the people after the fact.”

    House Republicans said their other anti-fraud priorities include putting in place new guardrails around the 14 Medicaid programs deemed high-risk for fraud and putting in place accountability measures for agencies and their leaders when fraud occurs, noting the recent Office of Legislative Auditor report that found officials in the Department of Human Services were backdating documents. 

    “The departments that enabled the fraud cannot be trusted to fix the problem themselves,” Rep. Harry Niska, the Republican floor leader, told reporters last week.

    But the OIG bill is the top issue for the GOP caucus.

    “Nobody has even gotten fired for backdating documents in an audit. So we need an independent Office of Inspector General. We need it now,” Niska said. “This bill has gone through enough of a process to where we could pass it, instead of having the Democrats slow-roll it and gut the bill.”

    Adding more investigators to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, implementing background checks for providers and requiring that those providers get surety bonds as financial security for the state as a condition of enrollment are among the House DFL priorities to fight fraud. 

    They also said the state needs to invest in improving outdated technology that can create vulnerabilities in the system. 

    “Many of the programs that are involved in the Medicaid space are Oregon Trail, vintage programming,” Stephenson said. “But there is a significant price tag in some of these cases. There’s also a federal match and so you can leverage federal dollars.”

    There could be room for agreement between Republicans and Democrats on that front. Last week in a separate news conference, Senate Republicans voiced their support for similar tech upgrades. 

    They also said the back a plan to authorize electronic visit verification to ensure to ensure someone who is supposed to be at a site actually is present, which House Democrats also said was a priority Tuesday.

    Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, a Republican, is co-authoring a bill in the Senate with Democrats that would implement this measure, which he described as “standard” in other states.

    “[The Department of Human Services] has been talking about implementing these requirements for years, but have failed to do so and failed to protect taxpayers,” he said. “We will be introducing a bill to require accelerated implementation of these basic program integrity measures.”

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    Caroline Cummings

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  • Torrance man gets 4 years in prison for defrauding his own congressional election campaign

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    LOS ANGELES — A Torrance man who unsuccessfully ran against Rep. Maxine Waters four times was sentenced Monday to four years in federal prison for his role in a scheme to siphon $250,000 in campaign cash for his own use.

    Omar Navarro, 37, pleaded guilty in June 2025 to a single federal wire fraud count for defrauding his election campaign.

    After he was sentenced, U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi ordered Navarro immediately remanded into custody. A restitution hearing will be scheduled later.

    “As a candidate for Congress, defendant knew and understood that campaign funds raised by him and others for his campaign were restricted to supporting his election efforts and could not be used for the candidate’s … own personal use or enjoyment,” according to his plea agreement.

    Despite this, Navarro conspired with his mother, Dora Asghari, and a friend to convert campaign funds for their personal use.

    Asghari, 61, of Torrance, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to a charge of lying to FBI investigators during an interview. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 13.

    Attorneys for Navarro and his mother could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Navarro unsuccessfully ran in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 against Waters, D-Los Angeles.

    An indictment made public in September 2023 outlines a scheme in which Navarro made payments from his campaign to various individuals — including his mother and friend Zacharias Diamantides-Abel, 37, of Long Beach — and then directed the transfer of cash back to himself for personal use.

    Navarro used $100,000 to pay for personal expenses, including trips to Las Vegas and the Northern California wine country, as well as payment of two criminal defense attorneys who helped him when he pleaded guilty to felony stalking in 2020.

    According to the indictment, Navarro later falsely reported these expenditures as campaign expenses to the Federal Election Commission.

    Federal prosecutors said Asghari and Diamantides-Abel concealed Navarro’s misdirection of campaign funds by frequently cashing the checks rather than depositing them into their personal bank accounts. If they deposited the check, they often withdrew the funds shortly thereafter to share with Navarro, the indictment states.

    In total, from December 2017 to June 2020, Diamantides-Abel and Asghari received $49,260 and $58,625, respectively, from Navarro’s campaign, according to checks he wrote or caused to be written to them. According to the indictment, Asghari also created a shell company to facilitate her receipt of these campaign payments and transfers back to Navarro and his own shell company.

    From January 2018 through July 1, 2020, Navarro deposited over $100,000 in cash into his personal accounts, even though he had no other source of income aside from the campaign funds, and he frequently made deposits after Diamantides-Abe or Asghari cashed campaign checks, court papers show.

    Navarro formed a sham charity called the United Latino Foundation as another way to embezzle funds from his campaign for his personal use, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    Diamantides-Abel pleaded guilty in May 2025 to a conspiracy charge and was placed in a diversion program.

    The 45-page indictment charged Navarro with 13 counts of wire fraud, 26 counts of falsification of records and three counts of prohibited use of campaign funds. Asghari was charged with six counts of wire fraud. Diamantides-Abel was charged with two counts of wire fraud. All three defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy.

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    City News Service

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  • Minnesota DFL, GOP lawmakers have dueling priorities for 2026 legislative session

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    The second week of the Minnesota Legislature starts Monday and two major priorities are on a collision course.

    The GOP is promoting an aggressive anti-fraud agenda while the DFL is hammering hard on the immigration crackdown and the continuing fallout.

    Whether legislative compromises can be reached on either of those remains unclear. 

    The Minnesota House is tied, once again, 67-67, with GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth presiding. On the Senate side, there’s a DFL majority by a whisker. There are 34 DFLers and 33 Republicans.

    With the violent clashes of the surge still fresh, the DFL is proposing several changes, including requiring that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigate federal officer-involved shootings, requiring all law enforcement to wear identification and not wear masks, and requiring agents to render aid.

    After Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot, the agents did not render immediate aid. 

    DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, who is also a registered nurse, wants there to be civil liability in these cases.

    “I think it is met with disbelief that we have to move a law. When I think about and listen and watch the video from that day, I am still stunned there was no effort to render aid, CPR to Pretti or to Good, and there were physicians there in both cases that were denied access,” Murphy said.



    Minnesota Rep. Harry Niska calls for more accountability in fraud scandal

    05:49

    Meanwhile, GOP House Majority Leader Harry Niska says Democrats are to blame for the fraud crisis in social programs and he is proposing a “fraud isn’t free” bill, which would require the firings of those in state government who oversaw fraudulent activity.

    One Department of Human Services assistant commissioner was fired last September. Republicans say there should have been more. 

    “Oh absolutely,” Niska said when asked if he thinks more people should have been fired by now. “Minnesota and Minnesota taxpayers are outraged by the waste and fraud that has happened, that no one has been held accountable.”

    Niska and Murphy both support the creation of an independent Office of Inspector General. While the Senate passed it 60-7 last session, the measure stalled last week in the House. Both sides say they expect eventual approval once details are worked out.

    All Minnesota House members and senators are up for reelection, so the debates over these issues will continue through November.

    You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

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  • Ex-Minnesota corrections officer accused of falsely claiming to be U.S. citizen

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    A former Minnesota corrections officer is facing deportation and criminal charges that accuse him of more than a decade of citizenship deception.

    According to the Department of Homeland Security, 45-year-old Morris Brown was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis on Jan. 15. 

    DHS said the Liberian national last entered the U.S. in 2014 with a nonimmigrant student visa, which was terminated the following year because Brown failed to enroll in a full course of study.

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow claimed Brown “tried every trick in the book” to stay in the country after losing his legal status. 

    “We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure he faces justice for his many violations of the law,” Edlow said. 

    Federal officials said they found out during Operation Twin Shield last September that Brown was working as a Minnesota corrections officer. The operation targeted immigration fraud in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area.

    DHS said Brown now faces removal proceedings and possible criminal prosecution for immigration fraud, false claims to U.S. citizenship and other related offenses. 

    In a statement, the Minnesota Department of Corrections said it has cooperated with the investigation and followed federal document verification requirements while hiring Brown. He worked for them from May 2023 until last October.

    “If these federal allegations are accurate, this individual engaged in sophisticated efforts to misrepresent their identity, extending well beyond Minnesota,” DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “We are grateful to USCIS and ICE for their work in investigating and addressing immigration fraud.”

    Brown is also accused of joining the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014 and going AWOL the next year. DHS officials said he was taken into custody and discharged from the military “under other than honorable conditions in 2022.” Two years after the discharge, Brown applied to naturalize as a U.S. citizen based on prior military service in what DHS alleged was “another commission of fraud.”

    According to ICE records, Brown is now at an immigration facility in El Paso. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has an attorney. 

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    WCCO Staff

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  • Colorado medical device company admits to fraud scheme, agrees to pay DOJ millions in penalties

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    A Colorado medical device company admitted to orchestrating an elaborate health care fraud scheme that resulted in the overbilling of patients and insurers by hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Zynex Inc., an Englewood-based firm that manufactures and sells medical devices used for pain management and rehabilitation, entered into an agreement Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid prosecution.

    The company, as part of the deal, agreed to pay between $5 million and $12.5 million in penalties — the final tally will depend on its earnings and profit during the settlement period — and will forfeit millions of dollars in unpaid claims.

    Zynex admitted to participating in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and other violations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island announced in a news release.

    The agreement comes a month after a federal grand jury indicted two former top Zynex executives who allegedly spearheaded the years-long scheme.

    Zynex, in its deal with the government, also admitted to collecting more than $873 million for its products, including more than $600 million for supplies, “the vast majority of which were the result of fraud,” investigators said.

    Have you used Zynex for medical devices? We want to talk to you.

    The company acknowledged that it shipped and billed for medically unnecessary supplies in excess quantities and misled investors who were unaware of the fraudulent billing practices.

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  • Have you used Zynex for medical devices? We want to talk to you.

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    Two former executives at a Colorado-based medical device company last month were charged in connection with orchestrating an alleged health care fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say raked in more than $800 million.

    Zynex, based in Englewood, shipped patients excessive volumes of devices each month, using these fraudulent billings to artificially inflate the company’s financial reporting and its stock price, the government alleged.

    The Denver Post wants to hear from those who have received Zynex supplies and devices.

    Reporter Sam Tabachnik is working on a story about the alleged scheme and wants to hear about the experiences of patients who dealt with this company. Let us know below.

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  • Douglas County woman billed Medicaid for patient who already died, federal officials allege

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    Federal officials unveiled a slew of charges Tuesday against two Coloradans accused of ripping off a program that provides free rides to Medicaid patients, the first criminal charges filed in response to a sprawling fraud bonanza identified by state officials more than two years ago.

    The indictments allege that Ashley Marie Stevens and Wesam Yassin separately participated in the transportation program and fraudulently collected seven-figure payouts — more than $3.3 million for Yassin alone, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado. The two drivers, who ran separate companies, allegedly fabricated rides for appointments that didn’t exist. Stevens is accused of billing for rides for her husband while he was incarcerated, and Yassin allegedly billed $165,000 for driving a patient who was dead.

    Both Stevens, of Mesa County, and Yassin, of Douglas County, were charged with multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering and health care fraud for their participation in the driving service.

    The program pays drivers to ferry Medicaid patients to and from doctor’s appointments, but it became a haven for fraud in 2022 and 2023, after state officials increased the service’s reimbursement rates. State officials told The Denver Post last month that an estimated $25 million was lost in the broader fraud.

    Yassin’s indictment was still sealed Tuesday evening. In a statement, federal officials alleged that Yassin billed Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rides that never occurred between March 2022 and October 2023. She raked in $283,000 from rides for just one patient, most of which was paid to Yassin after the patient had already died.

    Yassin allegedly used the proceeds to buy a home and furnishings, along with luxury vehicles, jewelry and cosmetic surgery. She was released on bond earlier this week, according to court records.

    Stevens billed the state for more than $1 million between July 2022 and February 2023, according to the indictment. More than $400,000 came from rides she provided to herself or to her family members, for which there were “very few” actual medical appointments, federal authorities allege.

    The trips included rides for her husband, who was incarcerated during some of the time when Stevens claimed she was driving him to the doctor. Another $150,000 was billed for rides that either never took place or were for trips that didn’t involve Medicaid services.

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  • Feds charge 4 in multistate SNAP fraud case

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    BOSTON — Federal authorities have charged several men in a more than $1 million multistate SNAP fraud and stolen identity case and are blaming Massachusetts officials for failing to report the scheme.

    U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley announced on Tuesday that four people, including two Venezuelan nationals, stole more than $440,000 in Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits and fraudulently claimed more than $700,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits from Massachusetts, New York and several other states.

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    kAmk6>mr9C:DE:2? |] (256 4@G6CD E96 |2DD249FD6EED $E2E69@FD6 7@C }@CE9 @7 q@DE@? |65:2 vC@FAUCDBF@jD ?6HDA2A6CD 2?5 H63D:E6D] t>2:= 9:> 2E k2 9C67lQ>2:=E@i4H256o4?9:?6HD]4@>Qm4H256o4?9:?6HD]4@>k^2m]k^6>mk^Am

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Raleigh woman arrested for alleged fraud, facing multiple felony charges in Wake County

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    A Raleigh woman was arrested and faces multiple charges after Wake County deputies said she was reported for alleged fraud.

    Deputies said a Wake County couple
    reported 34-year-old Cassandra Carroll in October 2025 after seeing unusual
    account activity from their bank account, including fraudulent transactions and
    thousands of dollars in attempted transfers.

    Deputies said after an
    investigation with the Wake County District Attorney’s office, Carroll was
    arrested on Thursday.

    She is charged with felony
    identity theft, exploitation of an older or disabled adult, obtaining property
    by false pretense, attempting to obtain property by false pretense and
    accessing computers.

    Authorities are holding Carroll on a $50,000
    bond. She is due back in court at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12.

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  • Deepfake fraud on ‘industrial scale’ as barriers to entry disappear – Tech Digest

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    Deepfake fraud has officially reached an “industrial scale,” according to chilling new analysis by AI experts.

    The report, highlighted by The Guardian, warns that tools used to create hyper-realistic, tailored scams are no longer the playground of elite hackers. Instead, they have become inexpensive, widely available, and simple enough for “pretty much anybody” to deploy against the public.

    Researchers at the AI Incident Database have catalogued a surge in “impersonation for profit.” Recent examples include sophisticated heists where deepfake videos of politicians were used to hawk fake investment schemes and AI-generated “doctors” to promote medical scams.

    The financial toll is staggering: UK consumers alone are estimated to have lost £9.4bn to fraud in the nine months leading up to November 2025.

    MIT researcher Simon Mylius claims that the barriers to entry for producing deepfakes have effectively disappeared. “Capabilities have suddenly reached that level where fake content can be produced by anyone,” he warned. Meanwhile, Harvard experts suggest that AI models are evolving far faster than security experts anticipated, making detection a constant game of cat-and-mouse.

    One recent high-profile incident involved the CEO of AI security firm Evoke, who nearly hired a “talented engineer” following a video interview. It was only after noticing the candidate’s “soft edges” and a glitchy, fake background that a technical analysis confirmed the individual was a deepfake.

    While the motive remains unclear, whether it was a play for a salary or a grab for trade secrets, it serves as a warning that no business is too small to be targeted.

    In response to this growing national security threat, the UK Government recently announced a “world-first” deepfake detection initiative. As detailed on Tech Digest, the Home Office is partnering with Microsoft, academics, and technical experts to build a standardized evaluation framework.

    This collaboration aims to establish consistent industry standards for identifying manipulated audio and video, bridging the gap between theoretical AI models and the real-world tools needed by law enforcement.

    With an estimated eight million deepfakes shared in 2025 – a massive leap from just 500,000 two years ago – the new framework with Microsoft is designed to identify gaps in current detection tools before the next wave of AI-driven fraud hits the mainstream.

    UK government announces deepfake detection initiative with Microsoft


    For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv

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    Chris Price

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  • Trump says California is full of fraud. Bonta says the claims are ‘reckless’

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    With the Trump administration reportedly in talks to create an anti-fraud task force for California, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta on Thursday vehemently denounced what he described as the administration’s “reckless” and “false” rhetoric about fraud plaguing the state.

    At a news conference at the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles, Bonta said the Trump administration’s claims that state programs are overrun by fraud and that its government was itself perpetrating or facilitating this fraud was “outrageous and ridiculous and without basis.”

    Bonta said most states struggle with some fraud from outside actors, saying that “anywhere there’s money flowing there’s a risk” and that the state’s Department of Justice has thrown immense resources into cracking down on illicit activities and recovering funds for taxpayers.

    As a politicized national fight over waste, fraud and abuse led by Republicans have targeted California and its Democratic leadership, Bonta and other state officials have moved swiftly to combat the claims.

    In California, Bonta said, authorities have recovered nearly $2.7 billion through criminal and civil prosecutions since 2016, including some $740 million through Medi-Cal fraud related prosecutions, about $2 billion under the state’s False Claims Act, and an additional $108 million from a task force focused on rooting out tax fraud in the underground economy.

    State authorities have frequently partnered with the federal government in the past on such investigations and welcome a good-faith partnership in the future, Bonta said.

    CBS News reported on the creation of a California-focused fraud task force earlier this week, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the plans. The outlet, whose new editor in chief, Bari Weiss, has been aligned with Trump and spearheaded a major overhaul of the news organization, reported that the president plans to soon sign an executive order naming Vice President JD Vance as head of a group that would also include the head of the Federal Trade Commission as vice chairman.

    Trump’s rhetoric fueled doubts about California programs and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership at the start of the year, when he declared that “the fraud investigation of California [had] begun.”

    On the president’s social media platform, in formal letters and in recent news conferences, officials in the Trump administration have alleged fraud in child care, hospice funding and unemployment benefits.

    Last week, the topic took center stage again when Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, posted a video accusing Armenian crime groups of carrying out widespread hospice fraud in Los Angeles.

    That viral video received more than 4.5 million views on X.

    Oz’s video received fierce backlash from California politicians and the local Armenian community, who collectively alleged that it contained baseless and racially charged attacks on Armenians.

    The video shows Oz being driven around a section of Van Nuys where he says that about $3.5-billion worth of medicare fraud has been perpetrated by hospice and home-care businesses, claiming that “it’s run, quite a bit of it, by the Russian Armenian mafia.”

    He also points to Armenian language signs, incorrectly referring to them as written in a cerulean script, and saying “you notice that the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect and it also highlights the fact that this is an organized crime mafia deal.”

    Newsom filed a civil rights complaint against Oz on Jan. 29, asking the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the “racially charged and false public statements” made in the video.

    On Monday, California Sen. Adam Schiff followed suit, demanding an independent review of Oz’s alleged targeting of Armenian American communities.

    “To suggest markers of Armenian culture, language, and identity are indicative of criminality underscores a discriminatory motive that could taint any investigation into fraud and incite the further demonization of the community,” Schiff said in a statement.

    Glendale City Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian said in an interview that Oz’s statements feed into the Trump administration’s playbook of using allegations of fraud to sow racial divisions.

    “This time the focus just happens to be the Armenians,” he said. “In places like Minnesota, it’s the Somali community.”

    California has been investigating healthcare fraud since a 2020 Los Angeles Times investigation uncovered widespread Medicare fraud in the state’s booming but loosely regulated hospice industry.

    From 2010 to 2020, the county’s hospices multiplied sixfold, accounting for more than half of the state’s roughly 1,200 Medicare-certified providers, according to a Times analysis of federal healthcare data.

    Scores of providers sprang up along a corridor stretching west from the San Gabriel Valley through the San Fernando Valley, which now has the highest concentration of hospices in the nation.

    The state Department of Justice has charged more than 100 people with hospice-related fraud since 2021 and shuttered around 280 hospices in the last two years, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

    But those shuttered hospices barely represent a dent in the massive hospice home healthcare industry. There are 468 hospice facilities in the Van Nuys area alone, according to the state database of medical facilities.

    There are 197 licensed medical practices, including 89 licensed hospices, in a single two-story building located at 14545 Friar St. in Van Nuys — suggesting a concentration of fraudulent businesses.

    When asked why the number of licensed medical practices in Van Nuys and at that address are so high, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health said that the department is committed to fighting fraud and unable to comment on pending investigation.

    Recent turmoil in Minnesota has demonstrated the potential ripple effects of allegations levied by the Trump administration.

    Ahead of sending in thousands of immigration enforcement agents into the Midwest state, Trump had repeatedly cited a fraud case involving funds for a child nutrition program involving COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.

    He used the case, which involved a nonprofit where several Somali Americans worked, to vilify the immigrant community, even though the organization was run by a white woman. After the state became a lightning rod, Gov. Tim Walz dropped his reelection plans.

    At Thursday’s news conference, Bonta described major cases in other states, such as $11.4 million healthcare fraud and wire fraud conspiracy involving a nursing assistant in Florida and a $88.3 million Medicaid fraud case in in Ohio involving over billing by a pharmacy benefit manager — to show abuse of state programs is not unique to California — or to blue states.

    “We know Vance hails from Ohio, so maybe he should take a look in his own backyard before leading an unnecessary political stunt focused on California,” Bonta said. “We thought we should set the record straight.”

    Times staff writers Melody Gutierrez and Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

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    Suhauna Hussain, Clara Harter

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  • Fort Lauderdale woman stole $1.2 million to ‘live the high life,’ BSO says

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    A Fort Lauderdale woman was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, and accused of stealing more than $1..2 million from a Deerfield Beach party store to “live the high life,” the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said.

    A Fort Lauderdale woman was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, and accused of stealing more than $1..2 million from a Deerfield Beach party store to “live the high life,” the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Miami Herald File

    A woman stole more than $1.2 million from a Broward event company, racking up big bills for diamond jewelry, private jets and renting out luxurious lodgings, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

    Keshon Litesha Rivers, 32, of Fort Lauderdale wanted to “live the high life,” the law-enforcement agency said.

    According to the sheriff’s office, Rivers owned a party planning business, Lock and Key Designs, and worked with Event Décor Direct — a party store in Deerfield Beach — “while she was stealing money from them,” between May and August 2025.

    “We’ve been in business with her for quite some time, and it kind of shocked us that this happened,” Event Décor Direct Executive Manager Stephanie Menard told the Miami Herald.

    Rivers is accused of making dozens of fraudulent credit-card transactions, including more than $85,000 for gold and diamond jewelry, $55,000 for a private jet flight from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and $43,000 for mansion home rentals in Miami Beach and Los Angeles.

    There were some issues with Rivers’ transactions that raised red flags, Menard said. It’s a small business, so the fraud “affected us in a big way.”

    BSO spokesperson Carey Codd said the agency can’t provide additional information about how Rivers committed the crime, as the investigation is active and ongoing.

    “This was a complicated, complex credit-card fraud scheme,” Codd said.

    “To further the ruse, detectives say Rivers even created a fictitious individual who, when questioned, she blamed for the fraudulent credit-card charges,” the agency said. “Detectives determined that person does not exist.”

    Rivers was arrested Wednesday and is being held without bond at the Broward County Main Jail, jail records show.. She is facing charges of organized scheme to defraud, grand theft of more than $100,000 and money laundering. Rivers did not have an attorney listed yet in court records.

    Rivers is on probation on similar organized fraud charges out of Polk County until 2030, BSO said. . Anyone with information can contact BSO Detective Christopher Bradley at 954-480-4300.

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    Sofia Saric

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  • Cook County clerk urges early mail-in voting amid USPS postmark change before March 17 primary

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    A little less than six weeks before the March 17 primary election, Democratic Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon urged mail-in voters on Wednesday to return their ballots early amid a change in federal government procedures that she warned could make it harder to vote.

    Gordon tied her concerns to the United States Postal Service’s recent decision, effective Jan. 1, to alter postmarking processes. While postmarks in the past were typically applied on the day an item was mailed, they are now listed as the day an item was processed at a USPS facility.

    While the change might appear small, it could mean the difference of a day or more between ballots dropped in the mail and being postmarked, resulting in those mailed near the March 17 deadline not being postmarked by Election Day and therefore deemed invalid, even if a voter does “everything right,” Gordon said during a news conference.

    “While this change has been described as minor, its impact on elections could be anything,” she said. “Do not wait until the final days or Election Day to mail your ballot.”

    The USPS change comes after Republican President Donald Trump said last year he might take control of the postal service, which operates as an independent agency with leaders appointed by presidents, most recently Trump.

    It also follows numerous false, misleading and unsupported claims by Trump that mail-in voting is prone to rampant fraud, even calling it “a whole big scam” in 2020 before he later lost his presidential reelection bid. In addition, Republicans, led by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of downstate Murphysboro, have challenged Illinois’ law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted 14 days later, a case that the U.S. Supreme Court recently said could move forward.

    Still, even as the president and Republicans have generally argued against mail-in balloting, the Republican National Committee and the Illinois Republican Party have ramped up efforts to encourage GOP voters to cast ballots by mail.

    Asked if she viewed the policy shift as a voting suppression effort, Gordon said she thought “it is possible.”

    “I am trying to be as objective as possible here, but across the country, historically, we have seen efforts of sophisticated voter suppression,” she said. “We will not allow our votes to be suppressed. We will not allow our voters’ voices not to be heard.”

    But Gordon had little to say when asked about Trump’s calls during a Monday podcast appearance to “nationalize the voting,” which would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Trump told his former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino that he wants Republicans to “take over the voting” in “at least many — 15 places” while making vague, unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud.

    “I have not had communication with the federal government,” Gordon said. “I’m never concerned about voter fraud here in Illinois.”

    The county clerk urged voters returning mail-in ballots close to the March 17 election to instead take them directly to a post office and request that it be postmarked at the counter. And beginning March 2, voters can return ballots at 55 drop boxes across suburban Cook County, she said. The Cook County clerk’s office oversees elections for suburban Cook County communities. The Chicago Board of Elections oversees elections in the city.

    Gordon’s office plans to send advisories to mail-ballot voters to reinforce the warning, she added.

    USPS has pushed back against such concerns, calling it a “myth” that the postmarking process is changing in a statement on its website. The postal service said instead that transportation changes are occurring “that will result in some mail pieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed.”

    USPS spokesperson Timothy Norman said in a statement to the Tribune that the agency has long recommended voters drop off ballots before Election Day. He encouraged voters to visit a post office and request a manual postmark if needed.

    “We employ a long-standing, robust and proven process to ensure proper handling and delivery of all Election Mail, including ballots,” Norman said.

    Gordon’s election deputy, Edmond Michalowski, said mail dropped off at boxes in the past was postmarked at local post centers.

    “Now it has to go to a distribution center before it is routed,” he told reporters. “We’re not sure how this is going to affect those voters.”

    Gordon said she did not know why the USPS change had been made. “But what I do know is that it’s ill timing. We got to do what we can to make sure that we get those ballots in on time,” she said.

    Gordon declined to estimate how many ballots could be affected by the postmarking change.

    Around 170,000 mail ballots will be sent to suburban voters for the 2026 primary, Michalowski said. Most of the returned ballots typically come “in a wave up front,” “and then they taper off closer to Election Day,” he added.

    Gordon said more ballots typically come in as media coverage of elections ramps up. She called the rules change “unprecedented” and conceded she did not know what to expect from it.

    “Every vote matters, and no voters should lose their voice because of confusion or delay,” she said. “We urge all voters to make a voting plan.”

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    Jake Sheridan

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  • With latest Minnesota fraud case looming, the lead prosecutors have quit

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    The four prosecutors who spearheaded a $250 million Minnesota fraud case will not be in court at the next trial because they’ve all left the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota in recent days, along with more than a dozen others in a growing wave of resignations.

    The departures have left the already-diminished office with as few as 17 assistant U.S. attorneys, according to sources inside the office — down from 70 during the Biden administration. 

    Former prosecutors Joe Thompson, Harry Jacobs, Daniel Bobier and Matthew Ebert — the four attorneys who had been leading the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case, which was the first shoe to drop in the massive Minnesota fraud scandal — have handed off the prosecution to relative newcomers to the office. 

    Harry Jacobs, who was recently named head of the office’s criminal division, was also involved in the prosecution of Vance Boelter, the man accused of assassinating former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark.

    Sources close to the attorneys who left have cited a variety of factors for the staff shakeup, including caseload management, structural issues within the office, the Trump administration’s influence on the office, and concerns related to Operation Metro Surge — the ongoing immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities that has led to thousands of arrests as well as repeated clashes with protesters, two of whom were killed by federal agents. 

    “The mass exodus we’re seeing in Minnesota is alarming,” said Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection, a Washington, D.C.-based organization of former Justice Department employees. 

    “We should all pay attention to why some of the state’s top federal prosecutors chose to leave — it had nothing to do with political disagreement; rather, this administration asked them to violate their legal and ethical responsibilities, and they believed the exit was their only option,”  Young said. “The loss of institutional knowledge and expertise will destabilize the U.S. Attorney’s office, leaving Minnesotans’ safety and rights less protected.”

    The office’s ranks were depleted even before Operation Metro Surge. By the time Daniel Rosen was sworn in as U.S. attorney in October 2025, the number of prosecutors had already dropped to less than 40, former and current officials tell CBS News. They cited retirements and changes made by the Trump administration, including cuts related to the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

    The Justice Department has sought to buttress Minnesota’s prosecutorial ranks with prosecutors from neighboring districts, including from Michigan, as well as the Department of Homeland Security and military attorneys. But that has not always worked out well. A DHS attorney working in Minnesota on Tuesday told a judge “this job sucks” and asked to be held in contempt “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep.” She was removed from the Minnesota assignment on Wednesday.

    The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit declined to comment when asked how many attorneys had been dispatched from the Eastern District of Michigan. 

    So far, federal prosecutors in Minnesota have convicted 62 people in connection to the scandal, which tops the list of the nation’s most costly COVID-era fraud sprees. Federal prosecutors estimate taxpayer losses exceed $1 billion. 

    Feeding Our Future was the initial scheme: a nonprofit organization that tricked state and federal officials into paying them to serve food to thousands of hungry children but never provided the meals. That group allegedly raked in $250 million.

    The final trial of those charged in the scheme is scheduled for April. Ikram Yusuf Mohamed, Suleman Yusuf Mohamed, Aisha Hassan Hussein, Sahra Sharif Osman, Shakur Abdinur Abdisalam, Fadumo Mohamed Yusuf and Gandi Yusuf Mohamed face charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery.

    The two prosecutors now leading the case are Rebecca Kline and Matthew Murphy. Both prosecutors joined the office in January 2024, after working in private practice, according to their LinkedIn pages. 

    Additional fraud cases have since come into focus. In August, state officials shut down a housing program designed to help seniors and people with disabilities, citing “large-scale fraud.” In September, prosecutors charged eight people with defrauding the program by enrolling as providers and submitting millions in “fake and inflated bills.” 

    Joe Thompson, the former first Assistant U.S. Attorney who became the public face announcing the indictments, made news before his departure when he said in December that federal prosecutors were investigating roughly $18 billion spent on social programs in Minnesota since 2018. CBS News asked how much they believe was fraud, and they said they’ve “seen more red flags than legitimate providers.” Thompson suggested half of the $18 billion or more could be fraudulent.

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  • China executes 4 more members of Myanmar-based group in crackdown on scam operations

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    Taipei, TAIWAN — China executed four people found guilty of causing the deaths of six Chinese citizens and running scam and gambling operations out of Myanmar worth more than $4 billion, authorities said on Monday.

    The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in south China announced the executions in a statement Monday morning, though it was not clear when they had been carried out.

    The executions of 11 other people accused of running scam centers in Myanmar were announced last week.

    The Shenzhen court had sentenced five people, including members of the notorious Bai family, accused of running a network of scam centers and casinos, to death in November.

    One of the defendants, group leader Bai Suocheng, died of illness after his conviction, the court said.

    The group had established industrial parks in Myanmar’s Kokang region bordering China, from where they were accused of running gambling and telecom scam operations involving kidnappings, extortion, forced prostitution and drug manufacturing and trafficking.

    They defrauded victims of more than 29 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) and caused the death of six Chinese citizens and injuries to others, the court said.

    Their crimes “were exceptionally heinous, with particularly serious circumstances and consequences, posing a tremendous threat to society,” the court’s statement read.

    The defendants had initially appealed their verdict, but the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court dismissed their appeals, it added.

    The executions are part of a broader crackdown by Beijing on scam operations in Southeast Asia, where scam parks have become an industrial scale business, especially in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. A mix of trafficked and willing labor there have carried out digital scams on victims around the world, including thousands of Chinese citizens.

    Authorities in the region face growing international pressure from China, the United States and other nations to address the proliferation of crime.

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  • China Executes 4 More Members of Myanmar-Based Group in Crackdown on Scam Operations

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    Taipei, TAIWAN (AP) — China executed four people found guilty of causing the deaths of six Chinese citizens and running scam and gambling operations out of Myanmar worth more than $4 billion, authorities said on Monday.

    The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in south China announced the executions in a statement Monday morning, though it was not clear when they had been carried out.

    The executions of 11 other people accused of running scam centers in Myanmar were announced last week.

    The Shenzhen court had sentenced five people, including members of the notorious Bai family, accused of running a network of scam centers and casinos, to death in November.

    One of the defendants, group leader Bai Suocheng, died of illness after his conviction, the court said.

    The group had established industrial parks in Myanmar’s Kokang region bordering China, from where they were accused of running gambling and telecom scam operations involving kidnappings, extortion, forced prostitution and drug manufacturing and trafficking.

    They defrauded victims of more than 29 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) and caused the death of six Chinese citizens and injuries to others, the court said.

    Their crimes “were exceptionally heinous, with particularly serious circumstances and consequences, posing a tremendous threat to society,” the court’s statement read.

    The defendants had initially appealed their verdict, but the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court dismissed their appeals, it added.

    The executions are part of a broader crackdown by Beijing on scam operations in Southeast Asia, where scam parks have become an industrial scale business, especially in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. A mix of trafficked and willing labor there have carried out digital scams on victims around the world, including thousands of Chinese citizens.

    Authorities in the region face growing international pressure from China, the United States and other nations to address the proliferation of crime.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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    Associated Press

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  • Minnesota agency investigating over 150 providers receiving funding from state child care program

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    The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, amid the ongoing fraud scandal in the state, said Friday that it’s looking into 158 providers who receive funding from a program aimed at making child care affordable for its residents.

    The state agency earlier this month said it had 55 open investigations involving providers receiving Child Care Assistance Program funding, which officials say supports 23,000 children and 12,000 families in accessing health care, and invested $306.6 million for affordable child care for Minnesota in fiscal year 2024.

    “DCYF remains committed to fact-based reviews that stop fraud, protect children, support families, maintains the public trust, and minimize disruption to communities that rely on these essential services,” the state agency said in a statement on Friday.

    Conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, in a video posted last month, alleged nearly 12 day care centers in Minnesota that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service. 

    The state agency said that it was already investigating four of the facilities discussed in the video when it was released. Officials said Friday they had “no public information to share” about the probes.

    According to the DCYF, nine of the facilities mentioned by Shirley were “operating as expected” when investigators recently conducted on-site checks.

    On Jan.  5, the state agency announced a round of “additional on-site compliance checks.”

    “Following standard practice, each of these site visits was opened as an investigation until records obtained during the visit were reviewed,” officials said in the release.

    CBS News conducted its own analysis of nearly a dozen day care centers mentioned in the video: all but two have active licenses, according to state records, and all active locations were visited by state regulators within the last six months.

    Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, R-Kentucky, said Friday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison will testify before the group in March during a hearing on fraud and the “misuse” of federal funds in the state. Republicans on the committee launched an investigation into Walz’s handling of a series of multimillion-dollar fraud schemes in Minnesota last December. 

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    Nick Lentz

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  • Minnesota Gov. Walz, AG Ellison to testify at House Oversight Committee hearing on fraud in March

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    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison will testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing on fraud and the “misuse” of federal funds in the state in March, Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, said on Friday.

    Republicans on the committee launched an investigation into Walz’s handling of a series of multimillion-dollar fraud schemes in Minnesota last December. Members, at the time, asked in letters the governor and Ellison for “documents and communications showing what your administration knew about this fraud and whether you took action to limit or halt the investigation into this widespread fraud.”

    “Americans deserve answers about the rampant misuse of taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs that occurred on Governor Walz’s and Attorney General Ellison’s watch,” Comer said in a news release on Friday.

    The hearing is scheduled for March 4. WCCO has reached out to Walz and Ellison for comment.

    Republican Minnesota state Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick, along with Brendan Ballou, a former prosecutor for the Justice Department who is appearing as the Democrats’ witness, testified in front of the committee earlier this month.

    Robbins said, as chair of a fraud prevention committee in the Minnesota House, she’s been “working to uncover the massive fraud under Tim Walz, propose solutions and hold state agencies accountable.”

    She also testified that her committee has evidence that, as far back as 2012, money has been sent back to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia. The Treasury Department said last month that it would investigate whether tax dollars from Minnesota’s public assistance programs made their way to al Shabaab.

    Democrats on the committee acknowledged concerns about fraud during the Jan. 7 hearing, but said the response should not punish communities unjustly, while pointing to what they said was hypocrisy among their GOP colleagues in taking fraud allegations seriously.   

    Walz has defended his handling of the crisis, saying his administration has “spent years cracking down on fraudsters” and has accused President Trump of “politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”

    On Dec. 31, A spokesperson for Walz said in response to the Jan. 7 hearing, without expanding, “We’re always happy to work with Congress, though this committee has a track record of holding circus hearings that have nothing to do with the issue at hand.”

    Ellison’s office said on Dec. 31, without evidence, that the attorney general and the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit have “prosecuted over 300 Medicaid fraud cases and won over $80 million in recoveries and restitution for the people of Minnesota.”

    Former U.S. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson in December said the total amount of fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid programs could be $9 billion or more. Walz called Thompson’s statement “sensationalism” and said that it doesn’t “help” the state tackle the problem that he vowed to fix.

    Caroline Cummings

    contributed to this report.

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  • First Brands founder Patrick James and brother Edward indicted on fraud charges

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    The founder of First Brands and his brother were indicted on fraud charges Thursday, the latest development in a legal saga involving the beleaguered auto parts company, which filed for bankruptcy in September.

    The indictment, unsealed in a federal courthouse in New York on Thursday, accuses Patrick James and Edward James of bankrupting First Brands and fraudulently obtaining billions of dollars behind the backs of the company’s lenders and financing partners.

    The legal filing alleges that from 2018 to 2025, the brothers enriched themselves by falsely inflating invoices for accounts receivable and payable, falsifying financial statements and hiding substantial liabilities from lenders, among other practices.

    “These schemes yielded billions of dollars in financing to First Brands and enabled Patrick James and Edward James to reap millions of dollars in proceeds derived from their fraud,” the legal filing claims.

    A First Brands spokesperson said the company plans to pursue all available claims and causes of action against the James brothers, and that its board of managers is conducting an independent review of the company’s historical business practices.

    “This is a tragic situation that has disrupted the lives of employees, families, and communities who depend on this business,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We recognize the very real human toll of these events and the uncertainty many are facing.”

    $9 billion in liabilities

    The James brothers face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud.

    Seth DuCharme, the attorney for Edward James, told CBS News that his client has “conducted himself with integrity and dignity over decades of hard work.”

    “Today, the government issued a long list of accusations, but has not produced a shred of evidence against him,” he added.

    The indictment claims the brothers’ actions destabilized First Brands finances and were ultimately responsible for the company’s demise. 

    The company filed for bankruptcy in September 2025. At the time, more than $2 billion in funds couldn’t be accounted for, leaving investors scrambling.

    At the time of its bankruptcy filing, First Brands had $12 million in cash in its corporate bank accounts and over $9 billion in liabilities, according to the Department of Justice. Patrick James resigned from the company in early October.

    Patrick James founded First Brands in 2013 and grew it into a dominant automotive parts manufacturer. The Cleveland, Ohio-based company sells brakes, windshield wiper blades and other automotive products. Edward James had served as a senior executive at First Brands, according to the Justice Department.

    Part of Patrick James’ growth strategy involved acquiring other businesses through borrowed money, which the indictment says created additional financial pressure. Fram filters, Autolite sparkplugs and Anco windshield wiper blades were among the companies First Brands acquired, helping it expand its foothold in the auto industry. 

    First Brands also used a financial arrangement known as factoring, which involved selling its accounts receivable to retail partners in exchange for near-term cash. The practice left the company exposed to cash-flow disruptions, increased its dependence on external financing, and became a vehicle for fraud, the indictment alleges.

    “First Brands factored billions of dollars’ worth of customer invoices through arrangements with lenders,” the legal filing claims.

    Edited by

    Aimee Picchi

    The Associated Press

    contributed to this report.

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