Minnesota is once again facing federal enforcement activity tied to alleged fraud in public programs serving children, with a fresh round of searches carried out by federal agents who seized records and other evidence, the Associated Press reported. The searches, which occurred Tuesday, focused on social-service programs for children and involved multiple agencies operating in the state.
The latest developments build on a broader set of overlapping investigations that have been playing out over several years, and that prosecutors have linked to large amounts of federal funding. Prosecutors’ prior estimates have described the Feeding Our Future child nutrition scheme as involving substantial losses and a large number of charged and convicted defendants, AP reported.
Federal officials also connected the investigations to the Trump administration’s immigration push in Minnesota, which the administration dubbed Operation Metro Surge. AP reported that Trump suggested around Thanksgiving that Minnesota was “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” under Gov. Tim Walz, and that the administration launched the immigration crackdown in early December, deploying about 3,000 federal officers into the state. The AP report said the administration initially described the crackdown as focusing on the state’s large Somali community, but that most of the more than 4,000 people arrested were Hispanic.
The Feeding Our Future scandal was the most visible part of the fraud investigations, AP said. Federal prosecutors estimated the Feeding Our Future fraud resulted in $300 million in fraud losses, and AP reported that it led to charges against close to 80 defendants and at least 65 convictions since the first cases were announced in 2022. Defendants were accused of fraudulently claiming to feed millions of meals to children.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, AP reported, the overwhelming majority of defendants were of Somali descent, and most were U.S. citizens, while the alleged ringleader, Aimee Bock, is white. AP reported that Bock was convicted last year on multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery, and that she was scheduled to be sentenced May 21.
The AP report also said Minnesota’s fraud investigations did not start with Feeding Our Future. It cited a 2019 report by the state’s Office of the Legislative Auditor that said investigators suspected fraud in a childcare program amounted to $100 million or more annually.
In the Medicaid-related fraud matters that emerged in December, AP reported that prosecutors described alleged fraud in children’s programs that included Medicaid services and areas such as child nutrition, housing services and programs intended to assist children with autism. 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.
Thompson also told reporters that “The magnitude cannot be overstated,” and AP reported that he described the situation in Minnesota as “staggering, industrial-scale fraud.” At the same time, AP reported that the $18 billion figure was an estimate and that the total losses alleged in the various fraud cases charged so far added up to far less.
Tuesday’s search round followed other attention on the case after an online video by right-wing influencer Nick Shirley that made allegations about members of the Minneapolis Somali community operating fake childcare centers in order to collect federal subsidies. AP reported that state inspectors discounted those allegations, while the video drew attention from the Trump administration and conservative activists.
According to AP, the Tuesday searches included 22 search warrants in Minnesota, with officers seen at several childcare centers and the seizure of records and other evidence. AP said at least two of the sites had been shown in Shirley’s video. It also reported participation by the Department of Homeland Security and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which removed boxes from some locations.
AP said Democratic state Attorney General Keith Ellison stated that Minnesota’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducted searches in collaboration with federal law enforcement at five sites, and it also reported that Minnesota’s child welfare agency shared key information. The AP report said it was not clear if, or when, criminal charges might result from the searches, noting that fraud investigations can take many months.