We knew the massive fraud that's being uncovered in Minnesota was bad when even the New York Times did an extensive story on the scandal:
The fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota was staggering in its scale and brazenness.
Federal prosecutors charged dozens of people with felonies, accusing them of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from a government program meant to keep children fed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At first, many in the state saw the case as a one-off abuse during a health emergency. But as new schemes targeting the state’s generous safety net programs came to light, state and federal officials began to grapple with a jarring reality.
Over the last five years, law enforcement officials say, fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided.
Federal prosecutors say that 59 people have been convicted in those schemes so far, and that more than $1 billion in taxpayers’ money has been stolen in three plots they are investigating. That is more than Minnesota spends annually to run its Department of Corrections.
More nerves in Minnesota might be getting rattled now that CBS News is also digging into the story (there's a reason Dems didn't want Bari Weiss to run the show there).
According the the US Attorney leading the investigation, we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, and guess what people in the state likely enabled the situation to go on for so long:
EXCLUSIVE: Luxury cars, private villas and overseas wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of files and photos that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew through hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars as part of one of the biggest COVID-era fraud schemes.… pic.twitter.com/6falojnlNP
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) December 11, 2025
Republicans running against Tim Walz for governor should be hammering home this part of that clip:
Q: What happened here in Minnesota that allowed this fraud to materialize?
A: It appears the people at the highest levels of responsibility in the gov't in the state of MN looked the other way.
The "highest levels of responsibility in Minnesota government" would include Tim Walz. Nothing to see here!
If only your affiliate in Minneapolis had done their job as journalists all along and covered the story instead of covering it up… https://t.co/Sabh4HNoXp
— KeithH (@kch50014) December 12, 2025
The Minnesota Star Tribune has gone out of its way to downplay the fraud while making it about Trump (of course).
Meanwhile, in a usual fit of projection, Gov. Walz has warned Minnesota voters not to elect a "con man" as governor. To us that sounds like an endorsement of the eventual Republican nominee.
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