Monday, June 22, 2026

Government Fraud and Corruption, Part 10: Student Financial Aid Fraud In Minnesota, Rigged Contract Bidding Fraud in New York, and More

 We are going to  spend a lot of discussion time in the coming posts to review the massive amount of criminal fraud that has infected government programs for many, many years.  The outstanding investigations recently done,  and still being  done, by independent journalist,  Nick Shirley, has started a cascading identification of the numerous fraud instances at all  levels of government  across the country.

It is unbelievable how many billions of dollars have been wasted and are currently being wasted and siphoned off by all types of criminal activities. And while it is amazing how much taxpayer wealth has been wasted and lost, possibly even more amazing is the reality that through the decades the political class and the government entities they overlook were unable or unwilling to stop the fraud.

1)It seems there is no end to  the corruption and fraud of government programs in the state of Minnesota, much of it ignored and/or encouraged by the governor:


  • A House of Representatives committee has asked  the JD Vance anti-fraud effort to investigate the  accusations  that the Minnesota governor,  Tim Walz, allegedly retaliated against state government whistleblowers.

  • These whistleblowers were trying to tell those in charge of the  massive fraud in the state’s government programs.

  • The  committee  report  was  entitled:  “The Cost of Doing Nothing: How Tim Walz and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota’s Fraud Explosion.”

  • The report accused Walz and his  attorney general, Ketih Ellison, of having known  of the massive fraud  as early as 2019 but they did nothing to  stop the  ripping  off of taxpayer dollars.

  • According  to the report: Whistleblowers within DHS [state Department of Human Services] have alleged that Governor Walz not only knew about this fraud, but that he retaliated against whistleblowers, ‘spen[ding] millions on surveilling staff and hiring private investigator (sic) or law firms to silence staff,. Then Temporary [DHS] Commissioner Shireen Gandhi confirmed in her testimony that DHS used outside entities to investigate DHS staff.”

  • The report maintains that the refusal to investigate and address the fraud resulted in about $300 million being stolen out of a Federal child nutrition  program and  $9 billion in stolen  Medicaid funds.

  • At least 65 Minnesota folks have already been  convicted in the state’s fraud cases.

  • More from the report:  “The state’s consistent failure to act decisively in the face of known fraud allowed brazen criminal schemes to flourish and diverted resources away from the vulnerable populations these programs were intended to serve.” 

  • Walz and  Ellison  have denied knowing about any fraudulent activities despite the  many whistleblowers who have come  forward over the years.

  • And  some of the more  serious  accusations: “Instead of trying to stop widespread fraud, Governor Walz’s administration retaliated against employees who tried to raise concerns, going to great lengths to keep them quiet, including intimidation through regular check-ins with high-level agency officials, diminishing job duties, and threats of surveillance,” 


What a disgusting mess. People stealing taxpayer funds that were intended  to help Americans in need and those in  charge of the program at the  highest level of state government  in  Minnesota allowed it  to happen.  Billions of dollars lost, either because of complicity or incompetence.


2)Fraud is not only done at the street criminal  level, sometimes government officials get into  the fraud act also:


  • The  NewYork governor, Kathy Hochul,  has  allegedly been involved in a rigged government  bidding process.

  • The process was for a huge  Medicaid homecare program.

  • The allegation is that Hochul steered the contract for the program to a preferred  company.

  • The "preferred" company is supposedly Public Partnerships  LLC (PPL) which is a payroll service company.

  • They were hired by the state government of New York  to  manage payments to 250,000  home care  recipients under the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program.

  • This program pays out taxpayer dollars  to friends and family members  who are  supposedly taking care of  very ill  or  disabled friends and family members.

  • A Federal report  accuses two high ranking  members of Hochul’s administration of  serious misconduct in the contracting process.

  • The report also asserts that Hochul was “actively involved” in the awarding  of the contract and that  there was “pressure from the Governor’s Office” in the  awarding  process.

  • Once the contract was  given massive troubles started  with scheduling and quality.

  • According to the Justice Department: New York’s backroom deal with PPL has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and cast countless Medicaid patients to the curb.” 


Whether it  is in Minnesota or California and now New York, it seems that the abuse of the Medicaid  program is one  of  the great scandals  in the  history of the  country.


3)As always, we seem  to end up in Minnesota:


  • In a new twist to Minnesota fraud, accusations have come to light of corruption relative to colleges in the state.

  • It is possible that  7,700 “ghost” students received $12.5 million in financial  aid and then vanished with the money.

  • The scheme worked  as follows: criminals steal an identity, enroll in a community college, apply for Federal  government  student  financial aid, and then disappear and never  attend classes, “ghost” students..

  • In  one example, at a Minnesota college, a course was opened to  registration. 

  • Within  two minutes, all 50 seats in the course were  filled.

  • However, it turned out that 48 of those registering for the class were bogus,  using the registration to get money.

  • Across 33 Minnesota state colleges, investigators found more than 7,700  suspected ghost  students.

  • Not only did these  ghost students get free money,  by registering for classes they shut out legitimate students from  the courses they wanted.


Walz has to be the most out of touch with  reality politicians in  recent memory. Medicaid fraud, feeding kids program fraud, ghost student fraud, Covid fraud, the list keeps  getting  longer and longer. The  country really dodged a fraud and incompetence  bullet when Walz did not become Vice President. 


Enough for  today: a new type of fraud in Minnesota,  high level fraud in New York, and the House reports on  massive whistle blower suppression  in Minnesota.


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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:




Saturday, June 20, 2026

Government Taxpayer Fraud and Corruption, Part 9: More Fraud In Minnesota, Massachusetts Medicaid Transportation Fraud, and Florida Goes Fraud Busting

 We are going to  spend a lot of discussion time in the coming posts to review the massive amount of criminal fraud that has infected government programs for many, many years.  The outstanding investigations recently done,  and still being  done, by independent journalist,  Nick Shirley, has started a cascading identification of the numerous fraud instances at all  levels of government  across the country.


It is unbelievable how many billions of  dollars have been wasted and are currently being wasted and siphoned off by all types  of criminal activities. And while it is amazing how much taxpayer wealth has been wasted and lost, possibly even more amazing is the reality that through the decades the political class and the government  entities they overlook were unable or unwilling to stop the fraud.


1)It seems that in every government program fraud discussion  we somehow end up in Minnesota:


  • The FBI recently raided 22 suspected fraudulent day care centers in the  state.

  • It is believed that billions of taxpayer  dollars were given to social  service operations that in many cases provided little or no social  services to the  needy Americans they were supposed to be serving.

  • These programs ranged from government funded  day care centers  to food assistance programs to senior care services.

  • Vice President JD Vance and  the FBI also recently announced that they possibly uncovered a bogus  Medicaid scheme in  Ohio that stole as much as $1 billion.

  • And rather than helping in uncovering taxpayer frauds,  many politicians are actually working to make the  identification of fraud harder, not easier, to find and  prosecute.

  • In California, politicians  recently passed the  “Stop Nick  Shirley Act” that would make  it harder  for journalists to investigate and  uncover the  criminal activity involved in government programs.

  • This law is obviously a violation of the First Amendment  of the Constitution and will  eventually be  killed  off but it gives you an idea that rather than helping in identifying fraud,  these California lawmakers are looking to cover it up and thus,  enable it.

  • Which raises the obvious question: do these politicians looking  to cover up fraud  doing it because they are profiting from it?

  • Washington  state politicians are looking to pass the same First Amendment type law to protect criminal fraudsters in  that state.

  • Oregon  politicians tried to pass a law that would restrict public access to government meetings and communications which  would  help cover up fraud in that state.


The good news is that  Vance, the FBI, and other  government entities are  finally fighting back and trying to  eliminate government  fraud.  The bad news is  that some politicians at the state level are going  the opposite way and covering up the  fraud, which again, raises the question  of whether they are actually benefitting from the defrauding of the American taxpayer.


2)Florida is  one state in which the political class is actually and actively rooting out fraud and corruption in government services:


  • Apparently south Florida has a  long history of  government  program  fraud.

  • But that is changing as the government in the state has  figured out how the Medicaid fraudsters operate:  fake/bogus health  care clinics are set up in rented  office  space,  they apply to receive government  subsidies to provide medical care via Medicaid, they  move in  and decorate the rented space, neighbors watch the space get used for a week or so, enough time to register with  Medicaid for  funding, and  then the physical operation address is abandoned.

  • But the schemers  continue to bill  for phantom medical services that are never provided.

  • This type of scam has been happening for a long time.

  • Way back in 2007, the U.S. attorney serving  Miami showed an analysis that nearly one third  of the  randomly selected Medicare business, 481 locations,  did not  exist physically but were  still collecting government  checks.

  • These ghost.phantom medical services companies collected almost a  quarter  billion dollars in a single year back then but provided absolutely no medical services.

  • However, the current  governor, Ron  DeSantis, has said  enough is enough: "For far too long, we've relied on a pay and chase model where fraudulent claims are paid first, and then investigated years later.  That approach is costly, that approach is inefficient, and ultimately it's not fair to taxpayers."

  • Under his  guidance  the state is  offering a three step  approach for  identifying and  stopping fraud.

  • Step One:  the state government  is partnering with  Sentilink, an identity fraud  company, to screen potential providers BEFORE they receive a  single taxpayer dollar.

  • Step Two:  the state government has frozen new service enrollments in the two worst fraud categories, medical equipment and adult day care providers, until the proper screening  is done.

  • Step Three: every Medicaid provider in Florida will be required to prove they are actually providing legit medical services every 12-24 months or they will be cut off from funding.

  • These steps appear  to be working  since in  just two years the state  has shut down 3,200 companies  and clawed back $136 million in  funds that these bogus companies had stolen.


Partly as a  result of these steps, the  state government of Florida has reduced its budget  for four straight years, grown  its rainy day fund by four fold, and reduced its debt by 50%, things that politicians in Minnesota, Washington, and Oregon should be  doing. Instead,they continue to enable the fraud and the wasting of billions of taxpayer dollars.


Maybe they should take the advice  of DeSantis: "Buckle up. Some of these guys [bogus medical service  companies]  that aren't behaving well? They're going to have a lot more to deal with."


3)Sometime the fraud is so easy to spot and yet nothing is done about it,  especially in  Minnesota:


  • Senator Joni Ernst identified a potential fraud going on  in Minnesota back in a January interview.

  • According to the Senator, it involves a questionable earmark included in the Federal  government budget that was allegedly pushed by Minnesota Congresswoman, Ilhab Omar.

  • According to Ms. Enest,  the earmark  request was for  more than $1 million  in  funding for  a substance abuse  clinic in Minnesota that allegedly shared the  same  physical address with a Minnesota restaurant.

  • Her and a  fellow Senator,  Mike Lee, sent a letter  to the Department of  Justice  requesting an  investigation into what looks like what could be  a shady operation.

  • Eventually the  earmark of the combo restaurant/clinic was dropped  and never got  funded, possibly because it was bogus and would be uncovered.


You at least have to give Minnesota  credit for this unique potential combination: a  restaurant/medical clinic sharing the same  address, almost as good as the California combo where a combination burrito stand  and autism center  shared the same address.


4)Let’s go to a different  state for a change and leave Minnesota, at least for a short side trip:


  • The Open  the Books organization  obtained Medicaid records from the Centers  For Medicare and Medicaid  services relative  to Massachusetts  from 2018 to  2024.

  • They analyzed  non-emergency  medical transportation claims from  companies operating transportation services,  services that cost the taxpayers  hundreds  of millions of  dollars a year.

  • Their analysis uncovered  two fraud schemes  operating within this transportation  program.

  • A Waltham, Massachusetts company,  JBM Health and  Educational  Services, was supposed to be providing rides to and from methadone clinics.

  • But according to  Open The Books’ work, the  company collected over $770,000 from Medicaid to pay for 16.907 methadone clinic rides that never happened.

  • Almost 100 of  the bogus trips that were billed were for transporting patients  that had already died.

  • Fortunately  the  leader of this company  and scheme was finally arrested  in early 2026 but not  before the culprit had funneled this Medicaid fraud payments into  real estate  and  investment accounts  and had  sent some of the taxpayer money to Uganda.

  • Less than a year later, another bogus Massachusetts transportation  company, Instant transportation LLC, was indicted on 17 counts including Medicaid fraud, larceny, patient abuse, identity fraud,  money laundering  and witness  intimidation.

  • In  a five year period, this bogus company had  billed the  state's Medicaid program over  $3 million for transportation services that were  never provided.

  • Thus, in  five years just two fraudsters had stolen  almost $3.8 million of Medicaid funds  without being caught.

  • The Open  The Books  analysis showed that just in  Massachusetts, the number o f  Medicaid funded transportation  claims rose  a whopping 403%, from  4,417 in  2018 to 22,228 rides  in  2023, a jump that should have been a red flag  fraud warning  signal well before five years expired.


Unbelievable that such massive fraud did not trip  warning signals long before two fraudsters were caught providing no service whatsoever and  yet collecting millions of dollars.


Fraud in  Minnesota and Massachusetts.  Protecting the fraudsters in  California, Washington and  Oregon. At least the Florida political class is finally going after the  crooks with some common  sense  fraud busting precautions.


**********************

If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at: