2 Pennsylvania Men Plead Guilty to Defrauding Minnesota Housing Fund

The Justice Department said on Feb. 10 that two Pennsylvania men pleaded guilty to defrauding a Minnesota public housing fund of $3.5 million.

Anthony Waddell Jefferson, 37, and Lester Brown, 53, created businesses in Minneapolis to purportedly help 230 Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities, on low income, or who were senior citizens find affordable housing.

In doing so, they sought funds from Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services to support their work.

Jefferson and Brown visited shelters to sign up homeless people as clients, but did not provide them with the housing services promised.

They used artificial intelligence programs, such as ChatGPT, to falsify emails between beneficiaries and create fake client notes.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, which carries a 20-year prison sentence.

“The defendants brazenly siphoned millions from a program created to provide vulnerable individuals with stable housing—a deliberate betrayal of public trust that will not be tolerated,” Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General T. March Bell said in a news release.

“Anthony Jefferson and Lester Brown tried to hide fraud behind artificial intelligence, but technology doesn’t replace math—or accountability,” IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco said.

“Our special agents followed the money, broke down the data, and exposed a scheme,” he added.

The prosecutions were conducted by the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, which combats fraud against Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and other government healthcare initiatives.

The program has charged “6,200 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion,” according to the Justice Department.

The Trump administration has made anti-fraud programs a priority since taking office in 2025.

President Donald Trump last month announced the creation of a new National Fraud Enforcement Division of the Justice Department to combat illegal activity.

Additionally, regarding Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, has highlighted cases of fraud during his tenure.

In Minnesota, specifically, the administration has alleged that a “fraud epidemic” is underway.

The Justice Department has charged nearly 100 defendants and secured 64 convictions for fraud crimes in the state involving the state’s Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services, Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention programs, and Evergreen Recovery.

The attorney for Jefferson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brown’s attorney told the Epoch Times that his client was waiting until the sentencing hearing to make public comments.