Local reporter Lou Raguse of the NBC-affiliate KARE-11 has produced a helpful 2:33 video explaining the details underneath the $billion estimate for Minnesota frauds:
Link here and also embedded in this post by Scott.
Breaking down Lou’s math:
(0:35) Feeding Our Future, $246,045,149. Scott Johnson reposts the complete document (Trial Exhibit X-1 from the 2nd trial) Lou references above at the bottom of this post. The Star Tribune objects to this figure because (1) it includes corporate entities where defendants have not been charged with felony crimes (and may never be) and (2) does not net out the de minimus amounts of food actually served by these entities. The $246 million number is itemized, but not itemized by defendant. Still, it represents the U.S. Attorney’s best efforts to track the fraud associated with the single corporate entity Feeding Our Future.
(0:42) Partners in Nutrition (d/b/a Partners in Quality Care), Empire Cuisine, $43,000,000. Lou points out that the defendants convicted in the first “Feeding Our Future” courtroom trial primarily operated their fraud through a different nonprofit corporation. Dollar amounts for Partners in Nutrition are included in a separate document (Trial Exhibit N-5), which Scott also posts. N-5 includes $49 million, backing out $6 million from Feeding Our Future (using Scott’s figure, to avoid double counting) leaves $43 million.
(1:00) Lou refers to a different group of defendants (Nos. 31-35 out of 78), led by Haji Salad, all of whom have pled guilty in the case..The Salad-led fraud included an additional $19 million stolen through Partners in Nutrition.
Using Scott’s number, that adds up to $308 million from just the food fraud.
(1:20) The total dollars, combined, disbursed by Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition brings us to $453 million, not backing out any de minimus amounts of food actually distributed and including amounts for individuals not yet charged and convicted.
There are other free-food nonprofits, beyond those two, that were shut down by the state Department of Education, and had employees banned from further participating in food programs. But no one assoicated with these additional entities have been indicted in federal court. We are not putting in a number to represent these nonprofits.
(1:34) Lou notes that the Minnesota State Attorney General’s office has proscuted some $60 million in Medicaid fraud through state courts in the past five years. None of these defendants overlap with any federal defendants.
(1:59) Housing Stabilization Services (HSS). This Medicaid program paid out about $240 million before it was completely shut down by the state Dept. of Human Services (DHS). The Star Tribune provides a number of $10 million, without citing any source.
(2:22) Autism clinics. The Star Tribune includes a figure of $14 million for this fraud, without citing any source. A “Feeding Our Future”-scale fraud, as Joe Thompson indicates here would put the number for this fraud in the neighborhood of, say, $250 million.
For the childcare center subsidy scandal, the Star Tribune cites a minimum $5 million “confirmed” figure, but does not include that amount in its $152 million total number.
Other unrelated fraud schemes currently being prosecuted by Thompson include this one for $3.5 million, this one for just under $1 million
Adding it up at the low end (246+43+19+60+10+14+5+3.5+1), we get to over $400 million. Using the high end figures (453+60+240+250+5+3.5+1) gets us over $1 billion.
Not included are about a dozen or so other programs not mentioned above that are being investigated by state DHS and third-party auditors. No dollar amounts have been included for these programs.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
