As tensions in Minnesota have flared, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited the state and said the Treasury Department has begun ramping up scrutiny of certain financial activity tied to fraud and international remittances. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Bessent said Treasury was taking a closer look at financial transactions between Minnesotan residents and businesses and Somalia while the federal government increases its immigration enforcement in the state.
Bessent said his agency launched a series of actions to combat fraud in Minnesota and initiated investigations into four businesses that people use to wire money to family members abroad, adding that he would not name the companies. He said the department had met with several financial institutions during the visit to ask them to do more to prevent fraud, while not disclosing which institutions he met with.
The announcement landed against a backdrop of public anger over immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. It coincided with protests in the city after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman on Wednesday in a residential neighborhood south of downtown, a moment that intensified clashes between federal and local leaders.
Bessent’s remarks also came as President Donald Trump has targeted the Somali diaspora in Minnesota with immigration enforcement actions, the Associated Press reported. Bessent said Treasury’s latest steps were prompted in part by fraud cases, including a case involving a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future that prosecutors said stole coronavirus pandemic aid intended for school meals, with prosecutors putting the losses at $300 million.
Gov. Tim Walz, who said last week that he was ending his bid to serve a third term, said in comments earlier that fraud would not be tolerated in Minnesota. Walz said his administration “will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught,” and he said he was “furious” with “criminals that preyed on the system that was meant to feed children,” after Republicans criticized his administration for allegedly not catching the Feeding Our Future fraud sooner.
Bessent declined to comment on specific investigations but said Treasury actions included Financial Crimes Enforcement Network investigations into Minnesota-based money services businesses, enhanced transaction reporting requirements for international transfers from Hennepin and Ramsey counties, and alerts to financial institutions on identifying fraud tied to child nutrition programs. He told reporters, “Treasury will deploy all tools to bring an end to this egregious unchecked fraud and hold perpetrators to account,” as part of his broader message that the department would pursue and recover stolen funds.
The announcement drew pushback as well. Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Bessent was “building a legacy of financial surveillance and control.” Anthony said the announcement about stopping Americans from sending money abroad and increasing surveillance under the Bank Secrecy Act “should be condemned.”
Some Somali leaders said last month they had received anecdotal reports about community members being detained by federal agents, but without details, and they and allies including Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have vowed to protect the community. In a separate speech on Thursday about the Republican Trump administration’s economic agenda at the Economic Club of Minnesota, Bessent referred to the alleged fraud without mentioning the Somali community that his department is targeting, according to the Associated Press.
During the same Friday visit, Bessent also used remarks that he said were aimed at recovery and prevention. He said he was “here this week to signal the U.S. Treasury’s unwavering commitment to recovering stolen funds, prosecuting fraudulent criminals, preventing scandals like this from ever happening again, and investigating similar schemes state by state.”