FBI and Minnesota Attorney General Execute Search Warrants at Two Twin Cities Autism Providers

Federal and state agents executed search warrants Thursday morning, Oct. 29, at two Twin Cities autism-services providers: Iska Inc. in St. Louis Park and Bright Horizon Therapy Center in Edina.

Attorney General Keith Ellison's office confirmed its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit carried out the warrants. Both businesses provide Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention, or EIDBI, services, along with other Medicaid-funded services, according to Ellison.

No charges have been announced against either business.

What the agencies have said

The FBI described the activity as "court-authorized" and said it extended to several sites in the Twin Cities and Rochester. "This is an active investigation, and no further details are available at this time," FBI Minneapolis spokesperson Matt Vogel said.

Federal officials told FOX 9 the operation involved the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, IRS criminal investigators, U.S. Postal Inspectors, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

It is not clear what investigators were seeking.

Ellison issued a statement. "It's the Attorney General's job to fight Medicaid fraud and I'm extremely proud of the success of my Medicaid fraud unit, which the federal government has acknowledged is both effective and aggressive," he said. "We will keep holding fraudsters accountable without fear or favor to protect public dollars."

The Minnesota Department of Human Services said it is "tracking" the activity. "When we see evidence of fraud, we shut off money and refer suspected criminals to law enforcement," a department spokesperson said.

At the scene

A WCCO crew saw law enforcement outside Iska's offices. Employees who arrived for work told the station they have provided autism services at Iska for several years. They said agents were carrying out boxes and the front glass door was shattered.

Drew Mills, who works in a business near Bright Horizon, estimated 12 to 18 agents were at that site. He told WCCO he had suspicions about the center because it sees little foot traffic. That is one neighbor's impression, not a finding.

The money and the paper trail

Iska received more than $16.7 million in Medicaid payments between 2018 and 2025, according to state data reviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Records obtained by FOX 9 show the state disenrolled Iska in May during its Medicaid provider revalidation effort. The records cite a failed site visit and show no appeal had been filed as of early June.

The state has not tied that disenrollment to Thursday's warrants, and the agencies have not said whether the two are related.

A program under sustained scrutiny

Thursday's searches follow a string of actions in Minnesota. In April, federal and state investigators executed 22 search warrants across the state, including at autism providers and child care businesses. CBS Minnesota reported that five other Twin Cities autism centers were raided that month in the EIDBI probe.

In May, the Justice Department announced charges against 15 defendants in alleged health care fraud schemes involving more than $90 million in intended losses. Those included an alleged $46.6 million scheme aimed at Minnesota's autism intervention program. DOJ said claims in that program rose from more than $600,000 in 2018 to more than $400 million by 2025.

Those are allegations in charging documents. As of April, two people had pleaded guilty to stealing millions in taxpayer money tied to EIDBI, in cases that grew out of FBI raids in 2024.

A growth curve like that is why investigators keep returning to this program. Going from six figures to nine in seven years is the kind of number auditors are supposed to catch early.

Concerns from families

Not everyone is comfortable with how the crackdown is being carried out. Taylor Sanders, a family advocate at the Autism Families Alliance, has warned of unintended fallout from the Trump administration's Medicaid fraud push. Families that depend on legitimate providers can lose services when a provider is shut down or its payments are frozen.

Taxpayers are owed a program that pays for care that actually happened, and children with autism are owed uninterrupted therapy.

Timing and politics

The White House announced that Vice President JD Vance will travel to St. Cloud to make a fraud announcement. FOX 9 noted it is unclear whether Thursday's raids are connected to that visit. No agency has linked the two.

Next up is whatever the search warrants produce. Any charges would be filed publicly, and the FBI has not said when it expects to release more information.