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"Fraud tourists" traveled to Minnesota after a friend told them state programs were "a good opportunity to make money," prosecutors say
CBS News ^ | December 18, 2025 | Jonah Kaplan, Michael Kaplan

Posted on 12/18/2025 3:30:37 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

Federal prosecutors announced new indictments Thursday in the widening Minnesota fraud scandal, this time involving two Philadelphia-based men accused of traveling to Minneapolis after a friend told them the taxpayer-funded programs there presented "a good opportunity to make money."

Anthony Waddel Jefferson and Lester Brown are accused of siphoning millions from federally funded programs administered by Minnesota officials that were meant to help people with disabilities and those suffering from addiction.

Unlike many of the individuals previously caught up in the state's sprawling fraud scandal, they don't appear to have ties to Minnesota's large Somali-American community. Prosecutors say they don't appear to have ties to Minnesota at all.

"Minnesota has become a magnet for fraud, so much so that we have developed a fraud tourism industry — people coming to our state purely to exploit and defraud its programs," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, who brought the new charges. "This is a deeply unsettling reality that all Minnesotans should understand."

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: European Union
KEYWORDS: anthonyjefferson; crime; democratcorruption; fraud; lesterbrown; minneapolis; minnesota; theft

1 posted on 12/18/2025 3:30:37 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican
Dark days, black bleak days, an umbra of dusky fraud cover Minneapolis.

2 posted on 12/18/2025 3:38:41 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: MinorityRepublican

They spelled ‘take’ wrong.


3 posted on 12/18/2025 3:40:09 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Don’t ask...


4 posted on 12/18/2025 3:48:04 PM PST by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Finish the damned WALL! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH! )
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To: MinorityRepublican

I often wonder what percentage of our tax dollars are given away to schisters through fraud. 50%?


5 posted on 12/18/2025 3:48:33 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: MinorityRepublican

Walz has acknowledged his state fell short in its fraud fighting efforts and listed a series of steps he has taken to implement more safeguards for taxpayer-funded social services.


he formed a committee and spent more money.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/12/walz-minnesota-fraud-prevention-program-new-partnership/87734908007/


6 posted on 12/18/2025 4:01:30 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
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To: MinorityRepublican

During my brief time in MSP back in the 1980s I recall hearing rumors of people driving up from chicago once a month for ‘benefits.’


7 posted on 12/18/2025 4:13:19 PM PST by posterchild
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To: posterchild

Yes. Many Chicago blacks have always come up here to double dip.


8 posted on 12/18/2025 4:29:56 PM PST by miliantnutcase
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To: All

“Walz’s Minnesota has become a magnet for fraud
and has a thriving tax dollar fraud tourism industry.”
“People come in just to defraud tax-supported programs.”


Democrat Kamala Harris picking Walz for her VP considered this an asset.


9 posted on 12/18/2025 4:44:55 PM PST by Liz ("Socialism is a wonderful idea. It's just that it's been disastrous" Thomas Sowell. )
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To: Liz

“Democrat Kamala Harris picking Walz for her VP considered this an asset.”
You read my mind word for word.


10 posted on 12/18/2025 4:51:41 PM PST by brookwood (First the left said it was OK to steal. Next they said it was OK to kill.)
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To: brookwood

We dodged that bullet.....thank God.


11 posted on 12/18/2025 4:53:31 PM PST by Liz ("Socialism is a wonderful idea. It's just that it's been disastrous" Thomas Sowell. )
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To: MinorityRepublican

Dear Lord.


12 posted on 12/19/2025 5:10:24 AM PST by Ciexyz (Prayers for America and Israel.)
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