FRAUD ALL THE WAY DOWN: Former Minnesota employee reveals suspected fraud scheme of ‘fake injuries’ at Somali businesses.

Balsimo spent her last years at the Department of Human Services (DHS) in the Tort Recovery Unit as a tort specialist.

She said that she wanted to blow the whistle on workers’ comp cases after what she noticed the last couple of years at her job—as hindsight and the exposure of fraud throughout Minnesota provided even more perspective.

Balsimo explained how she “recovered taxpayer dollars where another party should have been paying for the bills. For instance, like auto accidents or work comp. So we would get cases from attorneys representing the client.”

“And then when the case would settle, we would get paid, the attorney would get paid his fees. DHS would get paid our portion. And then the client would be awarded whatever type of injury that they had back, usually got more awards than neck or arm. So they would get anywhere from $20,000 to $150,000 for their award for their injuries,” Balsimo explained.

However, she noticed a strange trend emerging in her normally routine work. “About a year ago, I can remember my caseloads of Somalian cases were going way up. They were going up so much I even confided in another coworker. She had noticed it as well,” Balsimo said.

And then nobody seems to have done anything.