Minnesota autism raids carried out by federal and state agents on Thursday have put two Twin Cities autism providers at the centre of a Medicaid fraud investigation, with records seized, both centres closed, and no charges announced. The searches at Iska Inc. in St. Louis Park and Bright Horizon Therapy Center in Edina were described by the FBI as court-authorised investigative activity, and they landed one day before a planned White House fraud announcement in Minnesota that Vice President JD Vance had been due to headline before cancelling his appearance.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office confirmed that its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit took part in the searches. Both businesses are licensed autism service providers, the office said, and both are under investigation for suspected fraud. That word matters: at this stage the authorities have announced searches and an investigation, not arrests and not charges, and the businesses have not publicly answered the allegations. Calls and emails to Iska and to Bright Horizon went unreturned in local reporting on Thursday.
The searches began early on Thursday morning. Employees at Iska said agents were going in and out of the St. Louis Park centre at about 7 a.m., before it opened. Just before 8 a.m., a nearby worker said agents went into Bright Horizon in Edina and began bringing out records. Local television later showed agents carrying boxes and files from Iska's corporate office, and the St. Louis Park site was seen partially boarded up, with glass at the entrance appearing broken. A reporter at that site was told the damage occurred earlier that morning; no one was hurt and no one was arrested there.
Searches were also reported at additional sites, including in Rochester, where local police said they were collaborating with the FBI on what were described as pre-planned search warrants. The FBI confirmed to local news outlets that the investigation is ongoing and, in its standard formulation, described the operations only as court-authorised investigative activity. Federal officials gave no further details about what investigators are looking for, which billing periods are at issue, or whether any individual is a target of the inquiry.
By Thursday afternoon, Ellison's office had confirmed the two named providers and the participation of its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The office said both businesses are licensed to provide autism services and other Medicaid-funded services. That licensing detail is important context: these were not unregistered operations, according to the attorney general's office, but licensed providers whose Medicaid billing is now under scrutiny.
Medicaid pays for health services for people with low incomes, and autism services, particularly applied behaviour analysis and related therapies for children, are among the services Minnesota's programme funds. Providers bill the state for sessions delivered, and the state, in turn, can audit claims, suspend payments when it sees evidence of fraud, and refer suspected criminal conduct to law enforcement. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the attorney general's office exists for exactly that work: investigating fraud and abuse in the programme and protecting both public money and the patients who rely on it.
Minnesota has been under intense scrutiny over fraud in taxpayer-funded programmes, and the autism raids are the latest in a series of law-enforcement actions in the state. The political temperature around that scrutiny is high. The White House had announced a fraud-focused visit to Minnesota for Vance on Friday, October 30, and although Vance cancelled his St. Cloud appearance late on Thursday, the administration's announcement still went ahead at 1 p.m. on Friday with Patel, Bessent, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson. FOX 9 noted that it is unclear whether Thursday's raids are directly connected to Friday's announcement, and this article does not assume a connection the reporting has not established.
The money figures cited for the two providers help explain why investigators would look closely, without proving anything about the claims themselves. According to state Department of Human Services data reported this week, Iska received more than $16.7 million in Medicaid funds for autism services from 2018 to 2025, while Bright Horizon received nearly $17.7 million from 2020 to 2025. Large Medicaid totals are normal for providers that serve many children over many years, and they are not, on their own, evidence of wrongdoing. What investigators will be testing, in the records they seized, is whether the sessions billed were delivered, documented and eligible in the way the programme requires.
One earlier compliance flag has been reported for Iska: records show a failed Department of Human Services site visit and a correction order from 2024. A correction order is an administrative step requiring a provider to fix identified problems; it is not a criminal finding, and the reporting reviewed for this article does not say what the 2024 order concerned. It is, however, the kind of history investigators and regulators routinely review when they open a wider inquiry.
The Minnesota autism raids have also raised an immediate practical question: where do the children go? Employees told local reporters that Iska operates seven days a week and serves 10 to 15 children a day. Officials have not said how long either centre will stay closed, nor where the children employees say they care for every day will go in the meantime. That gap between a law-enforcement action and a care plan is often the hardest part of a provider investigation for families, who may learn of a closure only when they arrive for a session.
Neighbours noticed the contrast between the centres' billing scale and their visible activity. Drew Mills, who works across the parking lot from Bright Horizon in Edina, told FOX 9 he was not surprised by the search. He said the building often seemed quiet, with people showing up briefly and leaving, or with days when no one showed up all day. That is a neighbour's impression, not a finding, and it cannot substitute for the records investigators seized. But it illustrates why investigators look at attendance, staffing and session records together: a provider's claimed activity should be visible in its paperwork, its staffing and its premises alike.
The broken glass and partial boarding at the St. Louis Park site, and the boxes of files seen leaving the corporate office, are the visible signs of a search, not evidence of a conclusion. Search warrants are issued by a court on a showing of probable cause that evidence of a crime will be found, but a search is not a conviction, and the businesses and any individuals involved are entitled to the presumption that no wrongdoing has been proved until charges are filed and tested. That distinction is especially important in a story that will be read by families of autistic children, who may worry that a fraud investigation casts doubt on autism services themselves. It does not: the investigation, as described by officials, concerns suspected fraud in billing for those services, not the value of the services when properly delivered.
Ellison struck a firm tone in the statement quoted by FOX 9. "We will keep holding fraudsters accountable without fear or favor to protect public dollars and protect Minnesotans who rely on Medicaid," the attorney general said. A Minnesota Department of Human Services spokesperson added: "When we see evidence of fraud, we shut off money and refer suspected criminals to law enforcement. We are thankful to see criminals being held accountable."
Those statements describe the state's general approach and its response to the searches, but they do not name any person charged or any specific fraudulent act alleged against Iska or Bright Horizon. The FBI, for its part, has said little beyond confirming court-authorised investigative activity and that the investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for Ellison's office said additional information about the operations is anticipated soon, which suggests further official detail may follow, but as of the reporting reviewed for this article, no charging document has been published.
Neither provider has publicly responded. Calls and emails to Iska and to Bright Horizon were not returned on Thursday, according to FOX 9. That silence leaves the providers' side of the story unheard for now, and any future statement from either business, or from lawyers acting for them, would be a significant next development.
The raids matter on three levels. First, for Medicaid itself: every dollar paid for a session that did not happen, or was not eligible, is a dollar that cannot pay for care that did. Fraud investigations in health programmes are therefore also patient-protection work, and they sit alongside the state's power to suspend payments when it sees evidence of abuse. Second, for Minnesota's politics days before the November 3 midterms: fraud in state programmes has become a national talking point, and the timing of the raids, a day before a White House fraud announcement in the state, guarantees they will be cited in that debate, whatever investigators ultimately find.
Third, for families: autism services are intensive, long-term and hard to replace at short notice. If either centre remains closed for long, families will need alternative providers, and the state will face questions about continuity of care. The authorities' next communications should ideally address not only the investigation but also what happens to the children in care, because that is the question parents will ask first.
Watch for four things. One, any statement from Ellison's office or federal prosecutors clarifying the scope of the investigation, the time periods covered, or whether charges are expected. Two, any response from Iska or Bright Horizon, or from lawyers for either provider. Three, any Department of Human Services action on payments to either provider, including a suspension, which would signal the state's own assessment of the evidence. Four, any link, or lack of one, to Friday's St. Cloud fraud announcement, which officials have not yet clarified.
The investigation is, by the FBI's own description, ongoing. Until charges are filed or officials release more detail, the fair summary remains narrow: two licensed Twin Cities autism providers were searched on Thursday in a Medicaid fraud investigation, records were seized, both centres were closed, and no arrests or charges have been announced.
Iska Inc. in St. Louis Park and Bright Horizon Therapy Center in Edina, both in the Twin Cities area. Both are licensed autism service providers, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office.
On Thursday, October 29, 2026, beginning at about 7 a.m. at Iska in St. Louis Park and just before 8 a.m. at Bright Horizon in Edina, with searches also reported at additional sites including Rochester.
No. No arrests or injuries were reported at the St. Louis Park site, and officials have not announced any charges. The providers are under investigation for suspected fraud; no wrongdoing has been proved at this stage.
State data cited in reporting put Iska's Medicaid autism payments at more than $16.7 million from 2018 to 2025 and Bright Horizon's at nearly $17.7 million from 2020 to 2025. Those totals alone are not evidence of fraud.
That is unclear. FOX 9 reported it is unclear whether the raids are directly connected to the White House fraud announcement in St. Cloud on Friday, which went ahead after Vance cancelled his appearance.
Related coverage: Vance cancelled his St. Cloud fraud event as Patel and Bessent led the announcement, a judge blocked Trump limits on Medicaid frailty exemptions, and Chief Justice Roberts defended judicial independence as courts face attacks.
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