Iska and Bright Horizon Drew $34 Million From Medicaid. Then Agents Came With Search Warrants.

EDINA, MINNESOTA – State and federal agents searched two Twin Cities autism therapy providers Thursday morning, October 29, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said. Agents executed search warrants at Iska Inc. in St. Louis Park and Bright Horizon Therapy Center in Edina, both paid through the state’s Medicaid autism benefit, Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI).

The two companies received about $34 million combined from Medicaid. Iska got more than $16.7 million for autism services from 2018 to 2025, and Bright Horizon nearly $17.7 million from 2020 to 2025, according to state Department of Human Services data reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune. As of Thursday afternoon, WCCO Radio reported that no arrests or charges had been made in connection with the searches, and officials had not said what investigators were looking for. Neither company responded to the Star Tribune’s calls and emails Thursday.

Six Agencies, Three Known Sites

More than a dozen agents converged on Bright Horizon, at the back of a strip mall in Edina, just before 8 a.m., employees at nearby businesses told the Star Tribune. At Iska, video obtained by KARE 11 showed agents carrying boxes out of the offices, and the station’s crews saw broken glass at the entrance. Agents also spent several hours at a building in Excelsior where Iska has a corporate office, the president of MBG Property Management, which runs the building, told the Star Tribune. “The people at Iska have paid their rent on time and have been kind and respectful tenants,” the man said, declining to give his name.

The attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the state office that investigates and prosecutes Medicaid fraud, carried out the searches with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The FBI said its agents joined “court-authorized investigative activity at several sites,” along with IRS criminal investigators, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “This is an active investigation, and no further details are available at this time,” FBI Minneapolis spokesperson Matt Vogel told MPR News.

Iska Was Disenrolled in May

The state moved against Iska months before agents arrived. DHS disenrolled the company in May while making Medicaid providers revalidate their enrollment, citing a failed site visit, according to state records obtained by FOX 9. The records show Iska had not appealed as of early June. The records do not show whether Iska’s status changed after June.

That review covered nearly 5,600 providers in 13 high-risk provider types, including EIDBI, with a May 31 deadline. On June 4, DHS said it had notified 3,411 providers they would be disenrolled, 916 for failed site visits, and that providers had 60 days to appeal. By October 14, DHS reported 3,706 providers revalidated. Failing revalidation is not a finding of fraud.

Both companies billed Medicaid for more than autism therapy. Iska billed for Housing Stabilization Services, a program the state shut down over fraud concerns, and Bright Horizon billed for adult rehabilitative mental health services, according to state data the Star Tribune reported.

Searches Follow April Raids

Thursday’s searches follow an April 28 operation in which the same fraud unit, the FBI, and HHS investigators searched five sites tied to four businesses that bill for EIDBI: Aspen Associates in Minneapolis and Fridley, Empower Skill Academy in Fridley, Global Star Therapy in Savage, and Mendota Autism Center in Mendota Heights. Before that, the FBI searched Smart Therapy Center in Minneapolis and Star Autism Center in St. Cloud in December 2024. At least four people connected to those centers have since been charged, including Shamso Ahmed Hassan and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf, who were indicted in May. Prosecutors allege Hassan billed Medicaid $46.6 million for EIDBI services and received about $21 million. Those are allegations in a separate case that does not involve Iska or Bright Horizon. The Justice Department said EIDBI claims grew from more than $600,000 in 2018 to more than $400 million in 2025.

DHS labeled EIDBI a high-risk program last year. In a July 6 update, DHS reported 444 on-site visits to EIDBI providers, 73 new investigations, and 25 referrals to law enforcement since October 2024. DHS said it contracted with a private-sector auditor in January 2026 to examine EIDBI providers with unusual billing. Many in the industry have said the crackdown has harmed good providers and warned that families could lose services if companies close, the Star Tribune reported.

DHS said Thursday it is tracking the law enforcement activity. In a statement on the searches, Attorney General Keith Ellison praised his Medicaid fraud unit, which he said the federal government has acknowledged is “both effective and aggressive.”

The searches came a day before Vice President JD Vance and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud were set to hold a news conference in St. Cloud on Friday, October 30, to announce what the vice president’s office called “the Administration’s War on Fraud.” KARE 11 reported that it was unclear Thursday whether the searches were related.

AT A GLANCE

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