WASHINGTON — In a significant stride for the Department of Justice, its newly established National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED) has already made a substantial impact, intercepting fraud schemes aimed at exploiting $340 million in taxpayer funds within its first week. Impressively, over $10 million has already been recovered through restitution.
The NFED’s first major success came with the sentencing of Abdullahe Nur Jesow on April 9. Jesow received a prison sentence of three years and seven months for his involvement in defrauding the government of $250 million. These funds, intended for a child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, were instead diverted by Jesow and his accomplices for personal luxuries, including high-end vehicles and overseas real estate, all orchestrated from a sham headquarters in Minneapolis.
Jesow has been ordered to repay $866,458 in restitution. Meanwhile, two other participants in the scheme, Gandi and Suleman Mohamed, have agreed to return $1.3 million and $8.66 million, respectively, as part of their guilty pleas in the Feeding Our Future scandal.
Federal prosecutors have also achieved a guilty plea from a former teacher in San Diego, who fraudulently billed Medicare for nearly $51 million. This individual laundered at least $14 million of the total and disbursed an additional $3.7 million in kickbacks.
Further sentences in the past week include an order for $933,438 in restitution from an individual in Oregon who filed false unemployment claims, as well as from a perpetrator in Pennsylvania who misused COVID relief funds for personal gain.
Other sentences in the past week included $933,438 in restitution from a grifter in Oregon who submitted falsified unemployment applications and another scammer in Pennsylvania who misappropriated COVID relief funds.
Federal agents also arrested five fraudsters in Indiana, Kentucky and Colorado for defrauding a COVID relief program out of $1.6 million.
“The National Fraud Enforcement Division is committed to prosecuting anyone who steals from American taxpayers,” said the fraud division’s lead, assistant attorney general Colin McDonald.
“Over the past seven days the Department of Justice has taken enforcement action in fraud schemes totaling over $340 million, with loss or intended loss amounts in individual cases ranging from $54,000 to over $100 million,” he added. “No matter the amount, we are steadfast in our effort to eliminate fraud.”
Vice President JD Vance serves as chair of an interagency fraud task force that first convened last month “to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse within federal benefit programs,” including those at high risk of being bilked such as autism care, at-home rehabilitation and non-emergency medical transports.
“The autism scam that we’ve seen in Somalian parts of Minnesota really illustrates well what’s been going on across whole layers of our government,” Vance noted at the time.
In February, the vice president and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz pulled $259.5 million in Medicaid funding from Minnesota over fraud concerns.
The blue state has been a focus of the Trump administration’s fraud crackdown, with the Justice Department and FBI targeting state programs that failed to safeguard taxpayer dollars.
Vance also accused Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of having committed immigration fraud by allegedly marrying her brother to help him remain legally in the country. The congresswoman’s chief of staff has called the allegation “a ridiculous lie.”
The DOJ’s division combating fraud was established on April 7.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference announcing the effort that more than $1 trillion of federal funds was potentially vulnerable to fraudsters each year.
“Because of this administration’s leadership, fraudsters, scammers, tax cheats or anyone who lies to get rich off the generosity of the American people should be on notice,” Blanche said.
