Millions of dollars were stolen from COVID-era programs in Minnesota under the watch of Governor Tim Walz (D).
At least 70 people were involved in the fraud scheme, ABC News reported. Those involved obtained more than $250 million through exploitating nutrition programs.
The crime ring operated under the guise of an organization called “Feeding Our Future,” according to a 2022 release from the Justice Department.
“The defendants exploited changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the release said. “Rather than feed children, the defendants enriched themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.”
According to a state audit released in June, however, the fraud scheme could have been prevented by Minnesota’s Department of Education (MDE), as it is involved in the oversight of fund distribution.
MDE’s “inadequate oversight” created “opportunities for fraud,” the audit said, adding that the MDE “failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and prior to the start of the alleged fraud.”
The audit noted that MDE “could have taken more decisive action sooner in its relationship with Feeding Our Future.”
Although Walz claimed that leadership roles have shifted since the fraud scheme came to light, former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab said Walz was “asleep at the wheel.”
“I proudly helped investigate and prosecute the Feeding Our Future fraudsters,” Teirab wrote on social media. “Tim Walz was asleep at the wheel, allowing a quarter-BILLION in fraud.”
Walz defended the MDE employees following the audit. When asked if state employees will be held accountable for their lack of oversight, Walz told KSTP, “This wasn’t malfeasance. Again, both of these cases there’s not a single state employee that was implicated doing anything that was illegal. They simply didn’t do as much due diligence as they should have.”
