Minnesota Reformer (file photo)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota has been beset by a series of complex, overlapping fraud investigations that have stretched over several years and involve potentially billions of dollars in wasted federal funding.
President Donald Trump pointed to the scandals as justification for launching a massive immigration crackdown that he initially said would focus on the state’s large Somali community, but most of the over 4,000 people arrested were Hispanic. While the administration claimed it was arresting “the worst of the worst,” most of those caught up in the dragnet had no criminal records.
The latest development was a series of searches Tuesday by federal agents who seized records and other evidence connected with an investigation of publicly funded social programs for children.
Dozens convicted in fraud probe involving pandemic-era food program for children
The problem of fraud in social service programs in Minnesota exploded into public view with a pandemic-era feeding program called Feeding Our Future for schoolchildren. Federal prosecutors estimate the scandal resulted in fraud losses of $300 million. It has led to charges against close to 80 defendants since the first cases were announced in 2022 and at least 65 convictions so far. The defendants were accused of fraudulently claiming to feed millions of meals to children.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the overwhelming majority of defendants were of Somali descent, and most of them were U.S. citizens, although the alleged ringleader, Aimee Bock, is white. Bock was convicted last year of multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. She’s scheduled to be sentenced May 21.
It wasn’t the first time scammers hit social services in Minnesota. The state’s Office of the Legislative Auditor reported in 2019 that investigators suspected that fraud in one childcare program amounted to $100 million or more annually.
The administration launches Operation Metro Surge
Trump suggested around Thanksgiving that Minnesota was “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” under Gov. Tim Walz, who was the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in the 2024 election.
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” Trump wrote on social media. “It’s OVER!”
The Trump administration launched the immigration crackdown in Minnesota in early December and dubbed it Operation Metro Surge. Around 3,000 federal officers were deployed into the state in what the administration called its largest immigration enforcement action ever. That sparked protests as residents took to the streets to try to protect immigrants from arrest — protests that grew even larger after the killings of two people by federal officers.
The estimated losses grow
Federal prosecutors dropped a bombshell when they announced charges in December in a new set of Medicaid fraud cases involving child nutrition, housing services and programs meant to assist children with autism, which for unknown reasons runs high in the Somali community. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who led the Feeding Our Future prosecutions, estimated that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen.
“The magnitude cannot be overstated,” said Thompson, who later quit in an exodus of career officials resigning or retiring over objections to Trump administration directives. “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud.”
That often-cited dollar figure was just an estimate. The total losses alleged in the various fraud cases charged so far add up to far less.
New searches focus new attention on Medicaid fraud
The day after Christmas, right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a lengthy video with allegations that members of the Minneapolis Somali community were running fake childcare centers so they could collect federal subsidies. That caught the attention of the Trump administration and conservative activists, though state inspectors discounted the allegations.
On Tuesday, federal agents executed 22 search warrants in Minnesota, seizing records and other evidence in what authorities said was an ongoing fraud investigation into social programs for children. Armed agents were seen at several childcare centers. At least two of the sites had been shown in Shirley’s video.
Several state and federal agencies participated, including the Department of Homeland Security. Officers from Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension removed boxes from some locations. Democratic state Attorney General Keith Ellison said the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in his office conducted searches in collaboration with federal law enforcement at five sites. Minnesota’s child welfare agency said it shared key information.
It’s not clear if or when any criminal charges might result from the searches. Fraud investigations are often complex and can take many months.
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