Two men from Pennsylvania admitted to repeatedly traveling from Philadelphia to Minneapolis in an effort to defraud Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program, prosecutors announced. The men allegedly defrauded approximately $3.5 million from the program and used artificial intelligence to create false records.

The two men, identified as Anthony Waddell Jefferson, 37, and Lester Brown, 53, allegedly set up businesses in Minnesota and enrolled as HSS providers. The men were allegedly supposed to provide housing consulting, transitioning and sustaining services to qualifying individuals.

The state’s HSS program, which was officially launched in July 2020, aims to help people with disabilities, including seniors and those with mental illnesses or substance abuse issues, find and maintain housing. The Justice Department previously said the program “had low barriers to entry and minimal records requirements for reimbursement.”

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Jefferson and Brown are accused of stealing approximately $3.5 million from HSS for services they falsely claimed to have provided to around 230 Medicaid beneficiaries. The men each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and face up to 20 years in prison, the DOJ said.

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Jefferson and Brown allegedly visited shelters and Section 8 housing facilities, marketing themselves as “The Housing Guys,” in order to recruit Medicaid beneficiaries to sign up for HSS services that ultimately were not provided, according to the DOJ.

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[Editor’s Note: Both defendants are black.]

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