(Getty Images / Olivier Le Moal)
FBI agents are searching at least two Minnesota autism centers Thursday as part of an investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud.
According to a 54-page search warrant application, one raid took place at Smart Therapy Center in Minneapolis and another at Star Autism Center’s office in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
They are looking into fraud related to a state funded Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program that serves people under 21 with autism spectrum disorder.
According to the search warrant, about a dozen defendants charged in the Feeding Our Future child nutrition fraud case also owned or received money from the autism clinics.
U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Andrew Luger, spoke to WCCO's Chad Hartman Thursday afternoon and even though he said charges had not been filed yet, and he couldn't say much about the ongoing investigation. But he did say connections between this case and the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal should be concerning for Minnesotans.
"Minnesota has a fraud problem and I think we're seeing it," Luger told Hartman. "But it's something that we can conquer and turn around and it's going to take really smart people at all levels of government to do that."
Luger says while this is not just a Minnesota problem, he is concerned that the level of fraud they've seen is so extreme.
"I think we all have to take a hard look at what's happening in our state with this kind of fraud and be willing to call it out openly and take it on fully at all levels, not just our level," Luger said referring to the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, Minnesota House Republicans are demanding action from the governor. Republican House Speaker Designate Lisa Demuth (Cold Spring) says they became aware of this potential fraud in July.
"We've had a number of months that we could have kind of put up the red flag saying, 'hey, we might have a problem, let's look deeper into it.' But here we sit again, the FBI is serving search warrants in Minneapolis and St. Cloud on this topic," says Demuth.
The warrant states that the program has seen exponential growth in Medicaid billing with companies billing the state for about $400 milliion.
Luger adds that it's important that money still gets to the places that need it, despite the fraud associated with these cases.
"I don't want these programs to end, I don't want the people who need this money to stop getting it," Luger explained. "I just want the community to not get ripped off and that money to go into the right hands, not the wrong ones. Once you look at it in the rearview mirror, you say, 'oh my gosh, how did anybody miss it?' I think we've got to get into the guts of how that happens."
(Getty Images / Olivier Le Moal)