17 Warrants, 4 Arrests, $41M Alleged: Trump Team Brings Fraud War to St. Cloud

Written By TNT Staff, Posted on November 1, 2026

Two days before the midterms, the Trump administration’s top fraud fighters flew to St. Cloud, Minnesota, with arrests to announce. FBI Director Kash Patel said agents executed 17 search warrants across the state on Thursday, Oct. 29, and arrested four people accused of looting Medicaid programs. Treasury puts the alleged intended loss at more than $41 million, with actual losses of $21.65 million.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald joined Patel on Friday, according to Treasury.

Who was charged

A Justice Department release dated Oct. 30 lays out the four new Medicaid cases. Despite the “voter fraud” wording in the page’s web address, the release is about benefits fraud, not ballots. According to DOJ:

• Habiba Mohamed, 58, of Coon Rapids, was charged by information on Oct. 29 with conspiracy to defraud the United States over an alleged $19.1 million scheme against Minnesota’s EIDBI autism therapy program. DOJ alleges she personally paid kickbacks to parents of Medicaid recipients.
• Faiza Osman Ahmed, 41, of Richfield, was indicted Oct. 28 on six counts of health care fraud tied to an alleged scheme of about $10 million against home-support, personal care and night supervision programs. Prosecutors allege she billed for care while recipients were traveling and while providers were working other jobs.
• Feisal Mohamed Elmi, 46, of New Brighton, was indicted Oct. 22 on 11 counts of health care fraud tied to an alleged $8.2 million EIDBI autism scheme. DOJ alleges he billed for services by employees who were outside the United States.
• Jama Yusuf Mohamod, 68, of Maple Grove, was indicted Oct. 28 on eight counts of health care fraud over about $3.2 million in alleged false claims to the Integrated Community Supports program. DOJ says he used “Super Intelligence” to create fake patient notes.

Four new cases, by alleged scheme size. Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 30, 2026. (TNT graphic)

MPR News reported that Ahmed, Elmi and Mohamod pleaded not guilty at their first court appearances, and that court records show Mohamed is expected to plead guilty on Nov. 12. All four are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Patel told reporters three of the warrants were served at child care centers, CBS Minnesota reported. “They thought they could get away with their crimes,” he said.

A bigger sweep

The arrests are one part of a larger push. DOJ says that since Sept. 30 its Fraud Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota have charged, convicted or sentenced 13 defendants whose alleged or proven schemes total nearly $83 million in intended losses. This year alone, DOJ says, it has issued more than 1,000 subpoenas and executed more than 40 premises warrants in the state.

The list includes Feeding Our Future, the pandemic child-meal scheme. On Oct. 28 a judge sentenced Salim Ahmed Said to 360 months in prison. DOJ says Said claimed his Safari Restaurant served more than 3.9 million meals and that he facilitated more than $44 million in fraud proceeds. Prosecutors have also moved to seize three Minneapolis properties worth about $519,000 that they say were bought with Feeding Our Future money.

The Minnesota crackdown, by the numbers. Sources: U.S. Treasury and U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 30, 2026; FBI Director Patel. (TNT graphic)

What they said

“Minnesota is the epicenter for fraud in America,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said in the DOJ release.

Bessent aimed squarely at the state’s leadership. “The center of the fraudulent activity is Minneapolis-St. Paul, but this is all over the entire state,” he said, according to MPR. “The Walz administration has been woefully negligent and turned a blind eye, so every citizen of Minnesota is a victim.”

“Our nation’s War on Fraud began in the Medicaid program right here in Minnesota,” Oz said in Treasury’s statement. Ferguson put it more bluntly: “States such as Minnesota got a free pass for four full years.”

Treasury also used the event to roll out new tools. FinCEN issued an alert on cross-border payments through U.S. money services businesses, after banks reported more than $8 billion in potentially suspicious wires from 2021 to 2025. Bessent also announced a single online portal for fraud tips, CBS reported.

Walz’s office: “political spectacle”

Gov. Tim Walz’s office answered that the state has fought fraud for years. “Today’s press conference offered no new information and amounted to a political spectacle just days before an election,” it said in a statement quoted by MPR.

That is a hard line to hold when the federal case count keeps growing. Vice President JD Vance, who chairs the White House fraud task force, was scheduled to attend but canceled late Thursday, according to MPR.

An indictment, information or complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

TNT Staff