Several local businesses are accused of defrauding the government nearly $270 million.
The allegations come after a raid last Wednesday on Milwaukee's northwest side.
According to nearly 50 pages of federal court documents, four Milwaukee construction companies are under investigation. They include Sonag Company, Nuvo, C3T and Pagasa.
They are private construction companies who, according to authorities, illegally became part of government programs to collect taxpayer money for themselves.
Search warrants also identified six people who investigators say defrauded government programs meant for minorities and service disabled veterans.
The documents allege that the owners of these private construction companies named certain people as president who they knew would qualify for those government programs. But those people didn't actually run the day-to-day operations.
In fact, one company's president actually lived in Minnesota. According to the search warrants, "to create the illusion [he] was controlling Nuvo, an office was maintained for him in the building with personal effects and papers on the desk."
A confidential source who worked for the company told the FBI that he didn't know anyone at the company who had ever met the president but federal documents show that he still received compensation from the company.
The complex scheme allowed the companies to receive government contracts that they weren't entitled to from agencies like Veteran Affairs and the U.S. Army.
Authorities say this went on for more than 15 years and ultimately, the companies illegally obtained $268 million in taxpayer money.
It is unclear if any of the people named in the documents will receive any federal charges.
The FBI also noted that it believes lower level employees in the companies were unaware of the fraudulent activity.
