Last year, with MN Attorney General Lori Swanson under heavy, but mostly anonymous criticism from her staff, the Legislative Audit Commission asked Legislative Auditor James Nobles to investigate allegations that Swanson pressured them to commit unethical or questionable actions. After a preliminary review, Nobles concluded that, while the allegations of pressure were true, the improper actions were ultimately not committed and the case didn't justify a full investigation.

But a couple of additional allegations were not investigated, and Nobles agreed to look into them in the course of his normal 2009 work of auditing state agencies.

Thursday, Nobles informed the Legislative Audit Commission that he had looked into two issues regarding the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Again, Nobles concluded that no serious improprieties occurred.

The allegations regarding the Medicaid Fraud Unit were twofold:

1. That under Swanson, federal money that is supposed to be used only for Medicaid Fraud investigation and enforcement had been used for other purposes, and;
2. That the Minnesota Unit had violated federal requirements about the proper ratio of lawyers to investigators within the unit.

Nobles basically referred the matter to Medicaid authorities in Washington, who reviewed the issues and concluded that the use of the federal funds and the staffing of the unit were okay.

Nobles informed the legislators by memo Thursday, saying: "We are not releasing a report on the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit because we did not find any reportable noncompliance."