Federal prosecutors charged, convicted, or sentenced 13 defendants tied to schemes representing nearly $83 million in intended federal losses in Minnesota between Sept. 30 and Oct. 30, 2026. Roughly $29.1 million of that amount originates from newly filed criminal charges.
While the headline of the official Justice Department release cited voter fraud alongside benefits fraud, the charging documents and substantive descriptions strictly addressed social safety net, health care, and nutrition programs. The government detailed no allegations, statutes, or defendants related to elections or voting.
Medicaid and Nutrition Schemes
The actions center on programs funded by taxpayers, including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and child nutrition initiatives. Across 2026, federal agents executed more than 40 search warrants on premises and served over 1,000 subpoenas across Minnesota.
"The alarming concentration of fraud targeting taxpayer-funded programs in Minnesota demands a coordinated and sustained response," said Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division.
Among the new cases, prosecutors charged Habiba Mohamed on Oct. 29 with conspiracy to defraud the United States in a $19.1 million Medicaid autism therapy scheme that allegedly distributed kickbacks to parents. An Oct. 28 indictment accused Jama Yusuf Mohamod of eight counts of health care fraud for submitting $3.2 million in false Medicaid claims generated using artificial intelligence software. Other indictments charged Feisal Mohamed Elmi on Oct. 22 with an $8.2 million autism therapy billing fraud, and licensed clinical social worker Emily Marice Ravits for allegedly facilitating $7.7 million in false claims without providing required supervision.
Convictions and Prison Sentences
The enforcement push also included resolutions from the Feeding Our Future child nutrition investigation. Salim Ahmed Said received a 360-month federal prison sentence on Oct. 28 for laundering more than $44 million through that $250 million scheme. On Oct. 30, a federal judge sentenced SaidFarah to 78 months in prison and a $40,000 fine for conspiring to bribe a juror with $200,000 in cash during a related nutrition fraud trial.
