Free Republic

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Federal prosecutors say Minnesota is facing one of the largest welfare-fraud waves in U.S. history—schemes so widespread and lucrative that some of the stolen money may have ended up in the hands of Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization operating in Somalia. According to a recent report in City Journal, former federal counterterrorism officials believe portions of the money stolen from Minnesota’s Medicaid and social-service programs were routed overseas through informal cash-transfer networks known as hawalas. Once the funds reached Somalia, investigators say, Al-Shabaab routinely took a share—regardless of the sender’s intentions. The allegation, described by one former...

As a matter of unlovely habit, apologists for illegal immigrants are wont to dismissively declare that, by entering the United States without permission and remaining here without the requisite legal dispensation, they have committed only a “civil infraction.” Insofar as this is true, it represents such a limited rejoinder to the objection as to be meaningless. Rare is the illegal immigrant who breaks into America and then does nothing else besides. Illegal immigrants work without permission. They dodge the country’s archipelago of employment law. They use government services that are designed to exclude them. They dishonestly submit forms that compel...

Are you a Somali-American living in Minnesota and also participating and possibly already charged and convicted of millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud? Well, just call Judge Sarah West and she'll let you off the hook. As far as the case itself goes, jury foreperson Ben Walfoort is quoted as saying "It was not a difficult decision whatsoever ... Based off of the state's evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt." Despite the jury swiftly convicting Yusuf, Judge Sarah West last week decided that they got it wrong, overturning the verdict and issuing a judgment of acquittal.

Jurors tell KARE 11 News their decision wasn't difficult after seeing evidence of "obvious fraud" committed by Abdifatah Yusuf. MINNEAPOLIS — At the August trial for Abdifatah Yusuf, the jury heard evidence that he ran his home healthcare company, Promise Health, out of a mailbox at a Central Avenue address where multiple other home healthcare companies were supposedly located. Yusuf and his wife Lul Ahmed were charged with stealing $7.2 million of taxpayer money through Medicaid overbilling in a personal care assistant (PCA) scam. The couple allegedly spent tens of thousands of the fraud money on luxury items for themselves....

IRS Study shows California is losing a taxpayer every minute to states like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina California Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing a retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025, ignoring that these individuals are the most financially mobile and can live anywhere. Expecting them to remain in the state as if they will happily and willingly hand over even more of their wealth surely must be facetious. SEIU is sponsoring the “2026 Billionaires Tax Act.” The measure, recently listed on the Attorney General’s website, would impose a one-time 5% tax on...

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla) has been indicted for stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds, laundering the proceeds, spending part of the money purchasing luxury items for her own personal use, giving part of the money to friends and relatives who then illegally donated to her campaign for Congress, and for tax evasion. Her brother Edwin Cherfilus, Nadege Leblanc, and David K. Spencer were also indicted as accomplices in one or more of the criminal acts. Additional details may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov. In...

The following quote is the opening salvo from an article titled “The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer,” by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo, both with the Manhattan Institute: Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the administration of Governor Tim Walz alone. Democratic state officials, overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country, are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty-bound by progressive pieties, refuse to connect the dots. [snip] In many cases, the fraud has allegedly been perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s sizeable Somali community. Federal...

Disgraced ex-TV anchor Stephanie Hockridge will spend the next ten years behind bars for her role in a multi-million-dollar COVID fraud scheme – serving her time in the same cushy lockup as notorious sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The 42-year-old, a former Phoenix TV anchor turned entrepreneur, was sentenced in Texas federal court Friday and ordered to cough up nearly $64 million in restitution for the bogus Paycheck Protection Program loans she helped secure during the height of the pandemic, the Justice Department announced. Hockridge, found guilty in June of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, will report to prison on Dec....

The House Democrat accused of stealing $5 million in FEMA funds called the indictment against her an attack on “Black and brown people.” Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) on Wednesday was indicted for allegedly stealing millions in relief funds and using a portion of the money to fund her campaign in 2022. Earlier in the year, the state of Florida sued Trinity Health Care Services for overpaying the company for a Covid-19 vaccination contract. Instead of correcting the supposed issue, the CEO of Trinity — Cherfilus-McCormick — allegedly loaned herself the money to invest in the campaign. The Justice Department accused...

Nashville’s family-owned businesses are sounding the alarm over rising property taxes, warning Mayor Freddie O’Connell that the city risks losing the very businesses that give Nashville its character. What Makes Nashville...Nashville? Local business owners say iconic Nashville spots, its restaurants, shops, and other small businesses, are struggling under record property valuations combined with tax hikes. Many fear they may not survive. The Arnold family has been serving their signature “meat and threes” for more than 40 years. Owner Kahlil Arnold greets every customer personally, creating a restaurant that feels like family. But the Arnolds are now facing a $138,000 property...

Federal authorities with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service have arrested a top official with the Arizona Attorney General’s office on felony charges of controlling and trafficking stolen property. This comes as Attorney General Kris Mayes faces scrutiny and a potential federal investigation for weaponizing her office and apparently accepting bribes to grant unprecedented prosecutorial authority to an outside nonprofit group in her case against alternative 2020 electors in Arizona. The Gateway Pundit spoke to Rep. Abe Hamadeh, who sent a letter to the DOJ last week, demanding an investigation into Mayes. He revealed that Mayes’s bribe was used to fund...

DOJ charges Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) with stealing $5 million in FEMA funds, laundering the proceeds, and then using the money to support her 2021 Congressional campaign. She faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted. According to the indictment, DOJ says: “Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) was hit with a federal indictment Wednesday, accusing her of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick, who has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee since December 2023, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami and faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted. Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain....

Dana Williamson, who served as California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff from January 2023 to December 2024, faces a slew of federal charges for fraud, corruption, and obstruction, but none of those charges implicate her for wrongdoing in her capacity as Newsom’s aide. Instead, the charges allege that she stole and deceived outside of her official duties.That prospect is threatening to rope Newsom’s entire administration into the scandal.However, speculation is growing that Williamson also acted improperly in office — meaning that wrongdoing was taking place in the governor’s office under Newsom’s watch. That prospect is threatening to rope Newsom’s...

Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL) was indicted by a federal grand jury for stealing $5 million in FEMA funds. According to the Justice Department, Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother Edwin Cherfilus allegedly stole $5 million in FEMA funds and funneled it through different accounts to pay for the defendant’s 2021 congressional campaign. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is facing up to 53 years in prison if convicted. “Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will...

A federal grand jury in Miami indicted Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-FL, and several co-defendants with stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Court records say that Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds. The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege...

Despite legacy media claims, illegal immigrants do indeed receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, commonly known as food stamps. In fact, it’s estimated that millions of illegal immigrants are collecting food stamps. Though SNAP data is hard to come by, seemingly intentionally so, a 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation that’s been analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) gives us some insight. CIS estimates that up to 4.5 million illegals are using SNAP, even though SNAP is restricted to applicants who have legal status. Notably, only the applicant, in theory, must have legal status in the...

While Farghali noted that it is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood to “exploit Gaza and Palestine for money.” The Muslim Brotherhood allegedly stole half a billion dollars from donations for the Gaza Strip in a single campaign, Egyptian researcher Maher Farghali reported on Sunday. While Farghali noted that it is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood to “exploit Gaza and Palestine for money,” the difference with this incident is that Hamas condemned the theft. The association Waqf al-Ummah/Ummet Vakfı, founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, is said to have been responsible for taking half a billion, which it raised in a single...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Four men are accused of attempting to cash a U.S. Treasury check worth more than $27 million, authorities said. They were arrested at a South Florida restaurant on Nov. 10 after they unwittingly included an undercover officer in their scheme. According to a federal criminal complaint, agents arrested Carlos Manuel Villaneuva, 37, of Hialeah, Florida; Eric Renard Bedford, 44, of Houston; Jorge Cruz Garcia, 30, of Katy, Texas; and John Ryan Boxie, 43, of Houston. The four men face one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of theft of government property....

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said Sunday the Trump administration is holding “discussions” on extending subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “There are discussions around extending the subsidies, if we deal with the fraud, waste and abuse that, right now, is paralyzing the system,” Oz told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”