I erred. I confess. Please don’t turn me in to PolitiFact! Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche did not come to town. He was otherwise engaged when he was advertised to appear at the press conference the Department of Justice advised us he would attend at 11:00 a.m. this morning in the Office of the United States Attorney for Minnesota.
The press conference did not begin as scheduled either. I have a beef about that. I would like to turn someone in to Politifact. This train was running late. It did not arrive until 11:45.
Even minus Blanche there were a lot of passengers aboard. Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division Colin McDonald was first up. He was followed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., my friend U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, Vice Chair of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud Andrew Ferguson, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and FBI Co-Deputy Director Christopher Raia.
McDonald announced 15 new Minnesota Medicaid fraud cases totaling an estimated $90-plus million in losses. The assembled dignitaries emphasized the provenance of the fraud in Minnesota, the seriousness of the problem uncovered here, and the resources the administration is bringing to bear on it here and elsewhere across the country.
The 15 new cases involve seven of Minnesota’s 14 waiverd Medicaid programs. In that sense this press conference followed up on First Assistant United States Attorney Joe Thompson’s December press conference highilghting the fraud in these particular programs that he had uncoverd in the course of working up the Feeding Our Future cases.
I posted the video of that December press conference on Power Line at the time. One of the questions at the press conference today rigthly alluded to Thompson’s estimate that of the $18 billion spent on the 14 waivered programs since their inception, half of it was due to fraud.
Responding to a question I asked at the December press conference, Thompson said the profile of the perpetrators in the uncharged cases fit the profile of defendants in the cases charged so far, i.e., largely Somali. I don’t know if that is true of the 15 new cases announced today. I didn’t have the chance to pose the question.
However, Mr. Raia solicited the help of the viewing public to track down one of the defendants who made a run for it when law enforcment came knocking this week. He jumped off a fourth-story balcony and limped into the sunset. Mr. Raia played video of the gotaway hopping off at about 48:45 of the video below. He fits the profile.
Mr. Raia wants you to report — if you see something, say there he is! Or call 800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at https://tips.fbi.gov/home.
Dr. Oz spoke a few times during the press conference. He has gotten to know the virulent fraud epidemic in Minnesota. He is treating it as best he can. He has his hands full or he has had his fill of us. Probably both. And he has returned for another house call.
Beginning at about 54:00 McDonald invited questions from the reporters who packed the room. He did a good job addressing questions of interest and adeptly swatted away two questions that sought to make a political point.
I have cued the video to begin playing when McDonald kicks off the press conference. We should be embarrassed to have required so much attention and yet here we are.
UPDATE: A senior official in the United States Attorney’s Office advises that they have caught their man, one Muhammad Omar. More to come!
I should have noted that Nick Shirley was also present at the press conference. Fahima Egeh Mahamud, the CEO of one of the Twin Cities Somali daycare centers featured in Shirley’s viral 2025 video, was also charged yesterday. Mahamud is an alumna of the Feeding Our Future fraud. She deserves some kind of recognition.
We were not handed press packets with charges or any other kind of details on the new cases. FOX 9 reports on the Mahamud case here. After covering the 2016 ISIS terrorism trial featuring a cast of Somali defendants, I wrote “A tale of five Muhammads.” It may be time to write a sequel for the fraud cases.
