FBI Director Kash Patel said yesterday the agency was reallocating resources to Minnesota to continue investigating allegations of widespread fraud linked to federally funded programs.
The update came after investigative YouTuber Nick Shirley last week released a 42-minute documentary visiting the addresses of day care centers, adult home care companies, and other businesses. Many appeared to be inactive despite claiming millions of dollars in state-distributed taxpayer funds, including from the Education Department and Medicaid. In yesterday’s announcement, Patel noted the FBI’s work dismantling a $250M scheme to siphon pandemic-era food assistance via the Feeding Our Future network (see explainer). The amount of stolen taxpayer money—from the food aid scheme and others—reportedly exceeds $1B.
More than 90 people have been indicted and more than 50 convicted to date, many of them of Somali descent. Gov. Tim Walz (D) has criticized President Donald Trump’s language toward Somali Americans in Minnesota and has sought to defend his administration, which oversaw the distribution of the funds.