Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke explained to Breitbart News how people are committing fraud against taxpayers by running fake “home health” businesses that could grant them up to $250,000 per year, despite no work actually being done.
Cooke sat down with Breitbart News during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference last week, where she explained that “individuals tried to report the fraud that was happening in Ohio,” and eventually told her, “We’re watching providers rubber-stamp paperwork for home health.”
Watch Below:
“There’s many states like this,” the attorney added, citing Pennsylvania as another state in which “you can go in, and you can say, ‘My aging parent needs a home health care, and I want to provide it.'”
“The state will, as long as the doctor has approved it, continue to pay you,” she said. “It could be for ten hours, twelve hours, up to 24 when it’s critical care.”
“You could sit at home without caring for an elderly parent who really doesn’t need it, make about $75,000 to $90,000 a year,” Cooke continued. “Now, you add two parents, that’s $180,000, you add your in-laws, $250,000.”
The Ohio attorney added that “a lot of providers came and said, ‘Fraud is occurring because we said we weren’t going to rubber-stamp this paperwork, so they went to other providers.'”
“Their home health care networks saying, ‘We’ll make it worth your while.’ Well, sounds like a kickback to me,” Cooke said.
“We really need to investigate the Medicaid system and how much it’s increased since the Somalian population came, and who really needs critical care because that’s meant for our disabled, our elderly, and people who really need it — not to just live off our system,” she added.
Cooke asserted that what is happening in Ohio is “ridiculous” and “despicable,” but noted “authorities are now looking at it from the Attorney General’s office to the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
“I flagged them all because this is Ohio tax dollars, and we have to take it seriously,” she said, adding, “I’m tired of people telling me, ‘Well, this is the way it’s always been. It’s subjective and we can’t really check.’ No, you can.”
“Audit America. Audit Ohio now. And I’m pushing for that in every single state,” Cooke declared.
Elon Musk reacted to Cooke’s remarks in a Monday X post, writing, “The fraud of your taxpayer money is happening nationwide and is liberally applied to attract illegal (and some legal) immigrants who will reliably vote Democrat.”
“The more you look, the more you find. And you don’t need to be a world-class detective to figure it out,” Musk added. “This is brazen, daylight robbery.”
Notably, one week after Cooke spoke with Breitbart News, citizen journalist Nick Shirley posted a video reporting similar fraud involving Somali-run daycare centers in the state of Minnesota.
In an X post sharing his shocking video, Shirley announced that he and his team had “uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day.”
In the 42-minute video, Shirley and his team were seen visiting multiple centers in Minnesota, asking if they could enroll their son “Joey” into daycare, resulting in them being immediately turned away — every time.
Shirley’s video footage featuring the taxpayer-funded, Somali-run daycare centers also did not appear to show children on the premises at any of the facilities.
In some cases, confrontation ensued, with one daycare center calling the police and accusing the journalist of trespassing after he asked, “Where are the children?”
Watch Below:
Shirley’s video, which was posted on Friday, went viral on X, racking up more than 120 million views at the time of this writing.
Vice President JD Vance reacted by praising the citizen journalist’s reporting, declaring that Shirley had “done far more useful journalism” than any of the 2024 winners of Pulitzer Prizes.
Shirley’s reporting comes after the City Journal released a report last month that found “federal counterterrorism sources” had confirmed that the Somalian community in Minnesota was sending “millions of dollars in stolen funds” back to Somalia.
Moreover, federal counterterrorism sources have confirmed that the funds were also ending up “in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab,” City Journal noted, adding that one source told the magazine, “The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”
Since these findings were released, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced that the Treasury Department will be investigating reports of Minnesota taxpayer funds landing in the hands of Al-Shabaab.
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), the House Majority Whip, meanwhile, has issued a letter to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) demanding answers and immediate action. As Breitbart News reported, the letter comes after Shirley’s viral video.
In his letter to the Minnesota governor, Emmer shockingly revealed that “the amount of Minnesota taxpayer dollars stolen” under Walz’s watch “equates to almost the entire GDP of Somalia.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.