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Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced at the start of the month that he had opened an investigation into “feckless mismanagement” by Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz that allowed what U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen called “the largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in the country.”
Days later, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced it was launching its own investigation into “widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs under Governor Tim Walz’s watch,” as well as “the state’s efforts to cover it up, and retaliation against whistleblowers who sought to protect taxpayer dollars.”
These announcements exploded into the public consciousness a Minnesota fraud scheme by Somali-run non-profits that siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from child-nutrition and Medicaid housing programs.
Here is what is known about how the scandal unfolded.
EMMER SLAMS WALZ, DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY OVER ALLEGED RETALIATION TIED TO MINNESOTA FRAUD
A street sign for “Somali St” is pictured with Riverside Plaza in the background in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
Mastermind group founded
On Nov. 7, 2016, Feeding Our Future, the organization that, according to the DOJ, was the “mastermind” behind the largest share of the fraud, was launched.
Though the Minnesota Department of Education initially denied FOF’s application to be a sponsor in the state’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the agency ultimately approved the nonprofit on appeal in 2017, according to the Minnesota Legislative Auditor.
Initial concerns ignored
In August 2018, FOF started claiming CACFP meals; initially claiming about 13,000 meals/snacks that month. The Minnesota Department of Education conducted its only administrative review of FOF this same year. According to the Office of the Minnesota Legislative Auditor, the review resulted in “serious findings that required follow-up, but MDE never conducted a follow-up review.”
Through participation in the Federal Child Nutrition program, FOF received $3.4 million in 2019.
Fraud scheme grows exponentially during COVID
Monthly tax dollar reimbursements for meal and snack counts by FOF ballooned by about 2,800 percent between 2020 and 2021.
By April 2021, FOF claims had grown to the point that it claimed around $32 million in reimbursements for 12 million meals and snacks for a single month. In total, FOF opened over 250 Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota, and in doing so, went from receiving and disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota.
One example of a restaurant involved in FOF’s scheme is Salim Said, who owned Safari Restaurant and who has been found guilty on 21 counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, bribery and money laundering. By July 2020, Said was claiming his restaurant was feeding 5,000 children per day, seven days a week. He claimed to have served over 3.9 million meals to children from his food site between April 2020 and November 2021 and to have provided more than 2.2 million meals to other food sites involved in FOF’s scheme.
The sun shines on the Minnesota State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in St. Paul, on the opening day of the 2024 session of the Minnesota Legislature. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
The U.S. attorney’s office said that throughout the course of the scheme, FOF fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. The DOJ said the nonprofit created dozens of shell companies, submitted fake attendance rosters, and “used the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel.”
Concerns stifled by claims of discrimination
In late 2020, the Minnesota Department of Education began scrutinizing the unlikely exponential growth of FOF. However, FOF sued, arguing discrimination based on race, national origin and religion, and alleged that the state was unfairly delaying approvals.
A state court ordered MDE to act promptly on unresolved meal-site applications from FOF. The agency sent FOF a “serious deficiency” letter in March 2021 and moved to suspend payments. However, in June 2021, the court held MDE in contempt for failing to process FOF’s site applications “reasonably promptly.” According to OLA, this lawsuit had a chilling effect on MDE acting on its concerns.
Fraud exposed
In early 2021, the FBI alerted the Minnesota Department of Education to allegations of kickbacks, fabricated invoices, and fake meal counts tied to FOF-sponsored sites. On January 20, 2022, federal agents executed search warrants at the nonprofit’s offices and associated vendors, uncovering evidence of shell companies, falsified records, and widespread misuse of federal child-nutrition funds. That operation marked the first public confirmation of a criminal probe, and in September 2022, prosecutors announced sweeping indictments, revealing what they called a $250 million scheme built on nonexistent meals and fraudulent billing.
Fraud deepens with housing and autism expenditures
Federal prosecutors say fraudsters further exploited Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program by recruiting individuals and billing Medicaid for housing-support services that were never provided.
MINNESOTA’S $70 MILLION FRAUD EXPOSES HOW DEMOCRATS BUILT A SYSTEM DESIGNED TO BE ROBBED
Men take part in a weekly Friday Jum’ah prayer session at Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center amid a reported ongoing federal immigration operation targeting the Somali community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Dec. 5, 2025. (REUTERS/Tim Evans)
The program, launched by Minnesota in 2020, saw its costs surge from a projected $2.6 million a year to more than $100 million by 2024. Investigators allege that provider groups created sham service plans, inflated or fabricated support hours, and, in some cases, used “ghost clients” to maximize reimbursements. The scheme unraveled when analysts and whistleblowers flagged impossible growth trends, prompting state payment suspensions and a federal probe that resulted in the first wave of indictments in September 2025.
Meanwhile, a parallel scheme targeted Minnesota’s Medicaid autism-therapy program by recruiting families, securing fraudulent or exaggerated autism diagnoses, and billing the state for therapy sessions that never occurred, according to prosecutors.
Providers allegedly paid parents to keep children enrolled, inflated treatment hours, or used nonexistent clients to generate claims under the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program. State payments for autism services ballooned from about $6 million in 2018 to nearly $200 million by 2024, far outpacing legitimate demand.
The scheme came to light as investigators examining the Feeding Our Future network began uncovering overlapping individuals and referral patterns, culminating in the first federal criminal charge in September 2025.
Political fallout
Former Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson described the scams as “schemes stacked upon schemes” that drained tens of millions of dollars from Medicaid.
The political fallout over the fraud has been immense, with there being much speculation on how the scheme was able to grow to the degree that it did.
In November, President Donald Trump announced he was ending deportation protections for Somalis in Minnesota “effective immediately.”
“Minnesota, under Governor Walz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz on Friday warned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that the state could lose federal Medicaid funding if it does not “restore the integrity” of its program. (@DrOzCMS via X / Scott Olson/Getty Images)
In response, Walz said, “It’s not surprising that the president has chosen to broadly target an entire community,” Walz said of Trump’s efforts, adding, “This is what he does to change the subject.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., meanwhile, told Fox News Digital that the fraud scandal represents “a catastrophic failure of oversight” under Walz and characterized some of the culprits involved as a “Somali criminal enterprise crew.”
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“People can focus on an ethnic group if they want, but the real issue is the lack of leadership and accountability in the state of Minnesota with Tim Walz and his administration. This wasn’t about Somalis; this was about government incompetence and lack of accountability,” Emmer said.
“Walz was warned about massive fraud in a pandemic food-aid program for children, yet he failed to act,” Comer said in another statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Instead, whistleblowers who raised concerns faced retaliation,” Comer added. “Because of Governor Walz’s negligence, criminals — including Somali terrorists — stole nearly $1 billion from the program while children suffered. The House Oversight Committee will conduct a thorough investigation into Governor Walz’s failure to safeguard taxpayer dollars.”
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson, Breanne Deppisch and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.