(Investigate West) — After two human trafficking victims filed complaints claiming they were exploited by an Idaho nonprofit, the state’s victim assistance agency kept sending the organization money.

And after InvestigateWest published a series of articles describing how the organization, Community Outreach Behavioral Services, lured human trafficking victims into what experts described as a likely Medicaid fraud scheme, the state kept giving COBS money.

Last week, even after federal investigators launched a probe into the Medicaid fraud allegations at COBS and its affiliated for-profit company, the state decided to award COBS another year of funding: $160,000 in federal grants.

The Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance did, however, cut funding entirely for a different nonprofit: The Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition, whose director Jennifer Zielinksi was blamed by the council for the revelations about COBS. COBS has denied all allegations of fraud and victim exploitation.

Emails obtained by InvestigateWest provide a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance, a governor-appointed agency responsible for distributing more than $10 million in grant money for victim service organizations in Idaho. The records show that when news articles exposed allegations of fraud and exploitation at one of those organizations, COBS, the council launched a behind-the-scenes effort to shield it from consequences and...

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