Connect with us

Politics

Inside Minnesota’s $1B fraud: fake offices, phony firms and a scandal hiding in plain sight

Published

on

Inside Minnesota’s B fraud: fake offices, phony firms and a scandal hiding in plain sight

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

As a massive fraud scheme costing state and federal taxpayers at least $1 billion dollars continues to unfold in Minnesota, Fox News Digital visited several locations that received funding through programs like Feeding Our Future and found several inconsistencies exposing the depth of the scandal. 

The now-infamous Griggs-Midway Building housed an “unusual concentration” of fraudulent entities involved in the HSS scheme, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.

Twenty-two “businesses” connected to the HSS program were registered to this single location. Thompson described these entities as “purely fictitious companies solely created to defraud the system.”

These 22 fraudulent businesses collectively billed Medicaid for a staggering $8 million between January 2024 and May 2025.

Advertisement

OMAR ACCUSED BY GOP OPPONENT OF OPENING UP THE DOOR TO MASSIVE MINNEAPOLIS FRAUD: ‘DEEP, DEEP TIES’

An in-person investigation by Fox News Digital of the building, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, showed huge swaths of the southern side of the building completely abandoned. A black and white banner advertising open spaces in the building was adorned atop the “Griggs-Midway Building” sign.

Several men sat together and engaged in conversation at the building entrance. When approached, the men told Fox News Digital that they did not speak English.

However, the western side of the building housed a number of seemingly legitimate businesses on the first floor, including a hair salon, a financial support and loan service for African immigrants and a property management office.

The Griggs-Midway building has become a focal point of the Minnesota HSS fraud scandal. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

Advertisement

Following extensive FBI searches of the building, the Minnesota Department of Human Services conducted approximately 40 investigations into providers associated with the larger Griggs-Midway building.

Brilliant Minds Services allegedly submitted over $2.3 million of the $8 million in fraudulent claims from the Griggs-Midway location, ranking as one of the state’s highest-billing HSS providers last year.

Four defendants, Moktar Hassan Aden, 30; Mustafa Dayib Ali, 29; Khalid Ahmed Dayib, 26; Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed, 27, were charged in the fraud case. Mohamed was the owner of one of the other fraudulent businesses implicated, Foundation First Services LLC.

‘HE HAD YEARS TO STOP THIS’: GOP LAWMAKERS BLAST WALZ OVER MASSIVE MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEME

Another false claim location took Fox News Digital to a second-story walkup above a sushi shop just blocks away from the Mississippi River.

Advertisement

The entryway was locked, and it was unclear whether the fraudster simply utilized the address to keep distance, or if the fraudster was actually located at the unit number listed on the claim.

The second floor showed little sign of life. Though one window displayed a “No Kings, No Fascists” sign facing out onto the snowy city street.

A large uniform reddish-brown brick building known as “Winsor Plaza” was the next destination of Fox News Digital’s trek through a brewing Minnesota snowstorm.

The simple, box-like form of the building was centered by a red canopy protruding from the structure’s primary entrance. A white-water tower with “Roseville” painted in red letters rose in the distance through the fog. Inside, a directory showed dozens of legitimate businesses, including doctors’ offices and wealth management services.

A search through the quiet halls of 1935 W County Road gave way to confusion. Unit 150, the office space listed on the false claim, was nowhere to be found. It appeared that in the building’s current configuration the suite simply did not exist. Not only was the claim fraudulent, so was the address.

Advertisement

A similar situation occurred at 9120 Baltimore St N. The claims report noted that the fraudulent entity was operating out of suite 100. Upon arrival, 9120 was seen affixed to a stone pillar in the center of a business parking lot.

However, there was no conglomerate of office spaces or apartment units, no numbers affixed to different storefronts. Only a singular, operational dental office. Another apparent fraudulent address.

NorthPark Dental in Blaine, Minnesota, appears to be a legitimate, operational business. There is no Unit 100 at this location, suggesting that the alleged fraud entity gave a fake address.  (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

The trend was broken at the next two locations.

2756 Douglas Dr N is a commercial address in Crystal, Minnesota, housing businesses like Rock Bridge Counseling & Mental Health and All Kind Painting & Cleaning, offering services for teens in crisis and home improvement, respectively.

Advertisement

These two businesses comprise suites A and B of the building but were not the fraudulent entities listed on location claims. A real building, with real businesses, but a fake company that appeared to never exist in that space.

MINNESOTA LAWMAKERS VOW NEW CRACKDOWN AFTER $1B FRAUD MELTDOWN THEY SAY WALZ LET SPIRAL

Another stop, 1541 Como Ave, was found inside a narrow St. Paul, Minnesota alleyway. The address housed a small, rusted garage affixed to the back of a church. The garage appeared vacant, with no mailbox or garbage cans.

A picnic bench just outside the garage door was covered in leaves, snow and other debris.

Several gentlemen inside a nearby local business told Fox News Digital that a man named “John” had used the location for a small pop-up gym and fitness center. He was often seen driving around in a fancy car. There was no indication as to whether this location was the legitimate operation center of the fraudulent claim.

Advertisement

4601 E 54th St, another location tied to the scandal, was visited by Fox News Digital only to find an empty parking lot. The address listed was in the 400s on the street. However, there are no 400s on that street, only 500s.

Another location, 2720 E Lake St, was completely boarded up and covered in graffiti with a homeless individual sleeping out front. The building appeared to have been inoperable for a long period of time.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Most of that $500 million hasn’t served a single meal and some of the simple things are if they would have just gone to the facilities, you know, you hear of the thousands of people being served out of an apartment twice a day, all they would have to do is show up and look at it,” Minnesota Republican state Sen. Mark Koran told Fox News Digital about the fraud that was hiding in plain sight in Minneapolis.

“There was an legislative auditor report that showed that 30 property owners where these businesses claim to operate out of, contacted the Department of Education who manage it, who managed that program, and they told them one, the businesses don’t exist in their facilities, so they don’t exist, period, and one of them I think was a city park,” Koran said. 

Advertisement

“And so the Department of Education gave that complaint to the nonprofit Feeding Our Future to address those issues and the Department of Education continued to pay millions to those thirty with a blatant, simple process of ‘we’ve been notified they don’t exist’ and they rejected and ignored it.”

Politics

Trump stirs GOP primary drama with visit to Massie’s Kentucky home turf

Published

on

Trump stirs GOP primary drama with visit to Massie’s Kentucky home turf

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump is taking his feud with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to the libertarian lawmaker’s home turf on Wednesday.

Trump is expected to hold an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday, the Republican Party of Kentucky announced on social media Monday. It’s located in the northern part of the state’s 4th Congressional District, which Massie represents.

Massie’s primary rival, Ed Gallrein, will attend the Hebron event, his campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, while deferring all other questions on the matter to the White House.

Massie himself will miss the event due to a previously scheduled official engagement, his spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Advertisement

KHANNA AND MASSIE THREATEN TO FORCE A VOTE ON IRAN AS PROSPECT OF US ATTACK LOOMS

President Donald Trump will be visiting Rep. Thomas Massie’s congressional district on Wednesday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

When asked about the visit, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his Administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.”

The president has thrown his considerable influence behind Gallrein to unseat Massie after the GOP lawmaker publicly defied Trump on multiple occasions.

MASSIE, KHANNA TO VISIT DOJ TO REVIEW UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES

Advertisement

Massie most recently was one of two House Republicans to vote to stop Trump’s joint operation in Iran with Israel, though the legislation was successfully blocked by the majority of GOP lawmakers and a handful of Democrats.

Ed Gallrein, left, seen with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. (Ed Gallrein congressional campaign)

He was also one of two Republicans to vote against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year.

Trump in turn has hurled a slew of personal attacks against Massie, including calling him “weak and pathetic” in a statement endorsing Gallrein in October.

“He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Massie, a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time, one of numerous criticisms targeting the Kentucky Republican through the years.

Advertisement

He called Massie the “worst Republican congressman” in July amid Massie’s bipartisan push to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But Massie has so far appeared to defy political gravity despite making political enemies out of both Trump and House GOP leaders.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

He handily defeated multiple primary challengers in 2024 and 2022, despite public feuds with Trump, and has served his district since 2012.

Advertisement

Gallrein is a retired Navy SEAL and farmer who launched his campaign days after Trump made his endorsement. Their primary election day is May 19.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

California Democrats launch pricey polling effort to winnow crowded gubernatorial field

Published

on

California Democrats launch pricey polling effort to winnow crowded gubernatorial field

As anxiety mounts among California Democrats about the potential of a Republican being elected governor, the state party will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling to assess the viability of the sprawling field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to plans released Tuesday.

The move comes after nearly every Democratic candidate refused party leaders’ call last week to withdraw from the race to avoid splitting the vote in the June primary — an outcome that could lead to a Republican being elected to statewide office for the first time in two decades.

“Candidates have filed, and now they’ve got the opportunity to showcase their viability, their path to win. I want to simply ensure that everybody has information to fully understand the current state of the race,” said Rusty Hicks, the leader of the California Democratic Party.

As campaign season ramps up, the series of six polls will allow “candidates, supporters, the media, voters, anyone and everyone to have a clear understanding of what is or is not happening in this particular race,” he said.

The filing deadline to appear on the June 2 ballot was Friday. Three days earlier, Hicks released an open letter urging candidates who did not have a path to victory to withdraw from the race. Of the nine prominent Democrats who had announced runs for governor, only one heeded his call: former state Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon.

Advertisement

That means the eight other candidates’ names will appear on the ballot, regardless of whether they decide to later drop out. And that creates the possibility of a Republican winning the race because of how California elections are decided.

The state has a voter-approved top-two primary system, under which the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June primary advance to the November general election, regardless of party.

Two prominent Republicans will appear on the ballot: former conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Even though Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, and the state’s electorate last elevated Republicans to statewide office in 2006, it is mathematically possible for Democrats to splinter the vote, allowing the two GOP candidates to advance.

Under such a scenario, not only would Republicans be guaranteed the leadership of the nation’s most-populous state, but Democratic voter turnout also would probably be depressed in November, potentially affecting down-ballot races such as those that could determine control of Congress.

Hicks’ call last week prompted concerns among candidates of color, including former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, that the effort was aimed at every nonwhite candidate in the race.

Advertisement

The state party chairman responded that his letter was not aimed at any specific candidate.

“It’s not something I lose sleep over,” Hicks said when asked about the racial claims. But he added that the voter surveys will be conducted by Los Angeles-based Evitarus, the state’s only Black- and Latino-led full-service polling firm, and will oversample historically underrepresented communities: Latino, Black and Asian American voters.

Hicks said the polling will cost “multiple six figures” but did not specify the exact amount.

The first poll will be released on March 24, and then five additional surveys will come out every seven to 10 days until voters start receiving mail ballots in early May.

“We’re putting this forward to ensure everyone is armed with the information they need to clearly have an eyes-wide-open assessment of where the state of the race currently is between now and when ballots land in the mailboxes of voters,” Hicks said.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’

Published

on

Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump outlined five key items he believes will tip the upcoming midterm elections in the GOP’s favor — if Republicans can muscle them through Congress.

“No transgender mutilation surgery for our children,” Trump told an audience at the Republican Members’ Issues Conference. “Voter ID, citizenship [verification], mail-in ballots, we don’t want men playing in women’s sports.”

It’s the best of Trump. Those are the best of Trump. This is the number one priority, it should be, for the House,” Trump said.

Trump’s exhortations to Republican lawmakers come as the GOP wages an uphill campaign to hang on to a controlling majority in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He framed his legislative priorities as a way for Republicans to capitalize on popular demands within the GOP base that would increase their chances of preserving a Republican governing trifecta.

Advertisement

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before departing Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION OVERHAUL WITH VOTER ID, MAIL-IN BALLOT CHANGES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

Currently, Republicans hold just four more seats than Democrats in the House of Representatives.

The GOP holds six more than Democrats in the Senate.

To keep the numbers in their favor, Republicans will need to beat historical trends. In the vast majority of past cases, parties that capture the White House in presidential elections face blowback in the midterms. Notably, the last time a majority party gained seats in both chambers of Congress in the midterms came under the Bush administration in 2002, following devastating attacks on the World Trade Center.

Advertisement

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, left, and President Donald Trump shake hands during an Invest America roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, District of Columbia, on June 9, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL

Trump said he believes Republicans have a shot at bucking the trend come November if they focus on his list.

“It’ll guarantee the midterms,” Trump said of his legislative priorities.

Republicans have already taken strikes towards two of them through the SAVE America Act, a piece of legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and cast a ballot. That bill cleared the House last month for a second time in the 119th Congress.

Advertisement

Its future is uncertain in the Senate, where Republicans would need the assistance of seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster. Democrats, for their part, believe the legislation would disenfranchise voters who cannot readily provide documented proof of citizenship through a passport, REAL ID, or birth certificate. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. has promised a vote on the package despite its long odds. 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, talks with a guest during a “Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour” rally in Upper Senate Park to urge Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Several members have introduced bills on transgender issues, although none of them have cleared either chamber.

Advertisement

I’ve never been more confident that if we keep these promises and deliver on this popular agenda, the American people will stand with us in overwhelming numbers, just as they did in 2024,” Trump said.

Continue Reading

Trending