FBI announces increased response to fraud in Minnesota public support programs – JURIST

FBI Director Kash Patel announced Sunday that the agency will send a large number of investigators and resources to Minnesota to continue investigating a multi-million dollar fraud scheme that is said to have involved theft of federal food aid from children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Patel, the investigation has so far

…exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network. The case led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions… others were charged for attempting to bribe a juror… Those responsible pleaded guilty and were sentenced, including a 10-year prison term and nearly $48 million in restitution in related cases.

The New York Times late last month reported that federal prosecutors say that as much as $1 billion of taxpayer money may have been fraudulently taken. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz responded to the news of possible fraud within Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services and Autism Service Center programs, saying:

This [was] on my watch.  I am accountable for this, and more importantly, I am the one that will fix it… Whoever is in charge. Unlike the president, I’m governor now [and] whether these programs happen before we got here or afterwards, it doesn’t matter. We’re here now. We’re the ones fixing it. You have my guarantee on this, that I certainly will have this thing fixed.

When announcing the new investigation last week, US Attorney Joe Thompson listed 14 state programs currently under investigation. Walz responded to the alleged widespread fraud, calling it “problematic” and claiming many programs “providing incredible services” are now “at a disadvantage because” of fraudulent actors.

The situation has political implications and connections to President Donald Trump’s strong stance on immigration. Many defendants charged in the investigation are Somali-Americans. Trump has said that he does not want Somalis in the US. He has also called Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”

Minnesota has the nation’s largest Somali population, about 84,000 people living mostly in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area.