Federal law enforcement raid businesses in Minnesota fraud investigation | CNN

A long-running investigation of fraud involving federal funding in Minnesota entered a new, highly visible phase Tuesday morning as uniformed law enforcement agents executed search warrants in the Minneapolis area. Twenty-two federal search warrants were executed in Minnesota, including raids at daycares, businesses and homes, a federal official told CNN. The raids dealt with allegations of fraud, the Department of Homeland Security said. The operation involved the FBI, other federal agencies and state and local law enforcement, a Justice Department spokesperson said. Five sites related to four businesses served with warrants are connected to a state program designed to assist children with autism spectrum disorder, and the state’s Medicaid fraud control unit assisted in the operation for those businesses, the Minnesota attorney general’s office told CNN. The office didn’t participate in the execution of other search warrants as “those sites do not involve Medicaid funding,” it said in a news release. Tuesday’s raids come amid longstanding allegations that some Minnesota businesses, including those run by people of Somali descent, have fraudulently used federal funding