Fraudsters Repeatedly Flew To MN To Steal $3.5M From State Housing Program: DOJ

MINNEAPOLIS — Two Philadelphia men pleaded guilty Monday to repeatedly traveling to Minneapolis to defraud Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program of roughly $3.5 million, according to authorities.

“These defendants had no connection to Minnesota or its communities,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva, of the justice department’s criminal division, said in a news release. “They traveled across the country for one purpose: to prey upon and steal millions in taxpayer dollars meant for people struggling with homelessness, addiction and disabilities.”

Anthony Waddell Jefferson, 37, and Lester Brown, 53, set up businesses in Minneapolis and enrolled as HHS program providers, purportedly to help people with disabilities find and maintain housing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rather than provide those services, Jefferson and Brown — who marketed themselves as “The Housing Guys” — repeatedly traveled from Philadelphia to Minneapolis to recruit Medicaid beneficiaries at homeless shelters and Section 8 housing facilities, authorities said. They signed recruits up for HSS and then billed the program for services that were not provided, according to the department.

When asked to provide supporting documentation for their claims, Jefferson and Brown fabricated emails discussing their purported “clients” and used ChatGPT to create fake client notes, authorities said. In total, from February 2022 through June 2025, Jefferson and Brown stole about $3.5 million from HSS for services they fraudulently claimed to have provided to roughly 230 Medicaid beneficiaries, according to the department.

“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 in the news release. “Our special agents followed the money, broke down the data, and exposed a scheme that siphoned public assistance dollars from a program meant to support vulnerable Minnesotans.

Jefferson and Brown each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the department.

“The Justice Department has been investigating billions in taxpayer fraud across the country and has already successfully convicted 66 individuals and counting in Minnesota,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the news release.