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FBI director Kash Patel said the agency has deployed additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota as part of its ongoing effort to “disrupt large-scale fraud schemes involving federal programs.”
Patel said Sunday that the bureau shifted resources to the state before the recent online attention it received, pointing to Investigation “Feed our future”who uncovered a $250 million scheme that siphoned off federal food aid intended for children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The matter is already over 78 charges and 57 convictionsProsecutors also charge the defendants with a separate conspiracy to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash, Patel said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
“The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect the children, and this investigation is largely ongoing,” he wrote on X. “Additionally, many are also being referred to immigration officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings if warranted.”
U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announces a major COVID-related fraud case in Minneapolis on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, detailing charges against the director of Feeding Our Future and 46 others in what prosecutors call a massive scheme to steal more than $250 million intended to feed children during the pandemic. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Patel's statement followed viral video posted on Freelance journalist Nick Shirley took to social media Friday to report on an alleged scam involving child care and education centers in Minnesota.
The video shows many of the facilities not operating despite supposedly receiving millions of dollars in government aid.
Republican lawmakers, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Rep. Mike Lawler, D-N.Y., and Vice President JD Vancereacted to a viral video in which Emmer accused the governor. Tim Waltz sitting “idly while billions are stolen from hardworking Minnesotans.”
COMER WARNES 'WALLS ARE CAUGHT UP' ON TIM WALZ AS Minnesota Fraud Investigation Widens
A spokesperson for Walz told Fox News Digital: “The Governor has worked for years to combat fraud and has asked the state Legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has increased oversight, including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which has already been closed.”
“He hired an outside firm to review payments for high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Service program entirely, announced the appointment of a new statewide integrity program director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to the Star Tribune at his office at the State Capitol in St. Paul on Dec. 12, 2024. (Alex Cormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Shirley's video also follows the Minnesota group. government employees who accused Walz in November of failing to respond to widespread fraud warnings and retaliate against whistleblowers.
Account X, calling itself “Commentary on Minnesota Fraud Reports,” which says it includes more than 480 Minnesota employees, wrote that Walz is “100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota.”
“We informed Tim Walz about the scam in advance, hoping for cooperation in stopping the scam, but no, we received the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats and retaliation, and did everything possible to discredit reports of fraud,” the group said. “In addition to retaliation against the whistleblower[s]Tim Walz has stripped the Office of the Legislative Auditor of its powers, allowing agencies to ignore audit findings and recommendations.”
Walz addressed the fraud at a news conference in late November, saying it “undermines trust in government” and “undermines programs that are absolutely necessary to improve the quality of life.”
“If you commit fraud, no matter where you come from, what you look like or what you believe, you will go to jail,” he added.
New York Times reported that What initially seemed to many Minnesotans to be an isolated case of pandemic-era fraud has grown into a much broader concern among state and federal officials.
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The Times reported that over the past five years, several scams have spread across parts of Minnesota's Somali community, according to law enforcement officials. A number of individuals allegedly created companies that billed government agencies for millions of dollars in social services that were never provided.
