Thread by @AGPamBondi

MINNESOTA FRAUD:

@NickShirleyyy’s work has helped show Americans the scale of fraud in Tim Walz’s Minnesota.

@TheJusticeDept has been investigating this for months. So far, we have charged 98 individuals – 85 of Somali descent – and more than 60 have been found guilty in court.

We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!

I am incredibly grateful to our U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and @DMNnews for their dedicated and ongoing work to uncover this fraud and build strong cases against its perpetrators.

Here are a few examples of the cases we have prosecuted with other federal partners like @SecScottBessent ⬇️

Scam 1: FEEDING OUR FUTURE -- THE LARGEST COVID-19 FRAUD CASE CHARGED IN THE COUNTRY

- Claimed to serve children millions of free meals during COVID—few, if any, were ever fed
- Submitted fake invoices and fake rosters of kids purportedly receiving meals
- 78 defendants charged to date | 57 defendants convicted
- 72 of the defendants are of Somalian descent | 5 defendants are currently fugitives in Africa
- Millions of taxpayer dollars in fraud proceeds were sent overseas to East Africa and the Middle East
-Ultimate price tag? $300-400 million.

In August, we successfully secured the conviction of the Feeding Our Future scheme leader, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah.

- Farah was sentenced to 28 years in prison and ordered to pay over $47 million in restitution

justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/lan…

And just last month, we sentenced Abdimijad Mohamed Nur -- another key player in the Feeding Our Future scheme -- to 10 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay millions in restitution

- And the crimes in this case don’t end here . . . ⬇️

justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/fee…

Scam 2: JUROR BRIBERY

Not unlike what you would see in the corrupt Somali judicial system, defendants in the Feeding Our Future case intimidated a cooperating defendant and attempted to bribe jurors

- 3 defendants delivered a bag containing $120,000 in cash to a juror’s house the night before closing arguments
- They promised more money if the juror voted to acquit all 7 trial defendants
- They offered this argument: “We are immigrants; they don’t respect or care about us”

justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/75t…

Scam 2: JUROR BRIBERY (continued)

According to the defendants, “[T]he government kept attacking Somali culture . . . [and] was very racist.”
- This claim is ludicrous: the government was fighting the unprecedented level of fraud being committed

justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/fif…

Scam 3: AUTISM TREATMENT MEDICAID SCHEME

-Many defendants from the Feeding Our Future scam also set up fake “autism clinics”
-Parents in the Somali community reported their children diagnosed as autistic, brought them into daycares disguised as “clinics,” and received huge financial kickbacks
-The state government program underwriting this scam was supposed to cost $20 million.
Somehow, it ballooned to $200 million…at taxpayers’ expense

justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/fir…

Scam 4: MEDICAID FRAUD

-Fraudsters identified Minnesota’s Medication coverage program for Housing Stabilization Services – a program meant to help people with disabilities, senior citizens, and people with mental illnesses
-Then, they started sham LLCs and began signing up drug addicts and others in halfway houses for services that were NEVER provided.
-The program was supposed to cost $2.6 million per year – it exploded to $125 million per year

justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/def…

We are working hand-in-hand with partners like @SecScottBessent, @Sec_Noem, @SecretaryTurner, and @SecretaryLCD to continue unraveling this scheme – and we will continue charging and convicting those behind it.

Thank you to @nickshirleyyy and local media in Minnesota for doing the kind of journalism that so many outlets used to do.

The people of Minnesota deserve better.