The scope of the Medicaid fraud scandal that has enveloped Minnesota appeared to widen Monday as Somalia’s ambassador to the United Nations has been linked to an Ohio home health care provider that has submitted fraudulent Medicaid claims, according to an official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill confirmed that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s UN Ambassador, “is in fact associated with Progressive Health Care Services, a home health agency in Cincinnati.” He added that “HHS has previously taken action against Progressive in response to a conviction for Medicaid fraud.”

The announcement adds another layer to the burgeoning federal benefits fraud scandal that has been uncovered in Minnesota, where a pattern of rampant Medicaid claims fraud perpetrated by counterfeit child care companies has been occurring primarily within the Somalian immigrant community in the Twin Cities area. The scandal picked up steam in late November after The New York Times spotlighted it, but it has been ongoing since at least 2018, with some estimating the scale of the fraud to be at least $9 billion. President Trump remarked over the weekend that the number could be as high as $19 billion and may eventually reach $50 billion.

Reports emerged Monday that the Trump administration is responding to the growing scandal with a massive deployment of federal agents to the Minneapolis area. Administration officials told CBS News that approximately 2,000 agents and officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) will fan out in the Twin Cities area for a “30-day surge in operations” on illegal immigration and to continue the probe into potential Medicaid fraud. So far, “Federal prosecutors have charged more than 90 people in Minnesota-based fraud cases since 2021, with more than 60 convictions so far.”

In addition, the administration announced that it would halt $10 billion in social services and child care funding to five Democrat-led states, including Minnesota, pending federal investigations.

Federal officials like Alex J. Adams, who serves as assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at HHS, say that the scale of the fraud is “eye popping.”

“Just this past May, the HHS inspector general had issued a report questioning the attendance records practices in Minnesota, suggesting that it was leading to overpayment,” he explained during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Monday. “… [U]nfortunately, it does not just impact those in Minnesota. It impacts all American taxpayers because these are federal dollars that are given to the state, a portion of which are then stolen by fraudsters.”

Adams went on to detail how his agency is responding to the fraud. “We took three quick actions last week. First, we put up on our website childcare.gov, a tip line for anyone with allegations of fraud, waste, or abuse to report to us directly. To date we’ve received about 280 tips nationwide and from multiple different states. I mean, it does appear that this exists outside of that state as well. We did ask for an audit of Minnesota and some of the day care facilities specifically named. And the third thing is we set up a defend-suspend system where states, prior to drawing down funds for child care, have to substantiate their draw down with evidence of legitimacy.”

Adams further pointed out that the policies of the Biden administration only enabled fraudsters to cash in on the $185 million in taxpayer dollars that the state of Minnesota receives each year for child care programs for the poor.

“[T]he Biden administration had adopted regulations that would have required states to pay child care providers in advance based on enrollment rather than after the fact (based on attendance records that are verifiable) that would have turbocharged fraud,” he underscored. “So in addition to those actions that we took last week, the Trump administration today published a proposed rule to limit or eliminate those Biden era provisions. And we’re trying to get these programs back on the right path, which is to help the children and families for whom Congress intended.”

As to the full breadth of the scandal, “we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg so far,” Adams emphasized. “But Americans can have confidence that we’re going to uncover the size and magnitude of this, and we’re going to do everything we can to return those dollars back to hard working Americans.”