Pressure Mounts On Tim Walz After Staggering Report On Minnesota Fraud

An increasing number of Minnesota residents, as well as state and national public officials, are calling for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to face consequences over the state’s multi-billion-dollar fraud schemes.

Questions are mounting over Walz’s oversight of state-funded programs, particularly those involving child care, nutrition assistance, and Medicaid services. This follows reports of widespread fraud in programs administered by the state Department of Human Services, with allegations that tens-of-billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars may have been stolen.

The concerns trace back to fraud cases that emerged during Walz’s time in office, starting around 2019. One major example is the Feeding Our Future scandal, where federal prosecutors charged multiple individuals with defrauding more than $250 million in COVID-19 relief funds meant for child nutrition programs.

Federal investigators have since expanded their scrutiny to include at least 14 state programs. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson described the scale of the alleged fraud as “staggering,” with estimates suggesting losses could exceed $9 billion in Medicaid services alone since 2018.

Independent journalist Nick Shirley has contributed significantly to public awareness through his video investigations. In recent reporting, Shirley and his team visited several daycare centers in the Twin Cities area, many of which serve the Somali community and have received substantial public funding.

One facility displayed a sign with the word “learning” misspelled as “learing,” despite receiving $4 million in state allocations. Another segment featured a longtime resident near a Somali-run daycare who stated he had not seen a single child enter the building since 2017, despite years of reported operations and funding.

These reports have drawn responses from public officials and prominent figures. U.S. Representative Tom Emmer commented on the misspelled sign, questioning how $4 million of taxpayer money could go to an education center unable to spell “learning” correctly. Tesla CEO Elon Musk referred to Walz as “a crook” and suggested he should be prosecuted. House

In addition, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer announced an expansion of his committee’s investigation into what he called “massive fraud and money laundering in Minnesota’s social services.”

Comer stated that whistleblowers had raised serious questions about whether Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison failed to act or were complicit in the alleged theft.

Elsewhere at the federal level, the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department, have launched multiple investigations into the companies at the center of Minnesota’s fraud scandals.

Those probes were launched after multiple national security officials alleged that millions of dollars in looted funds had been wired to the group. The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Transportation have also initiated inquiries, with the latter threatening to withhold $30 million in highway funding over issues with commercial driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens.

The SBA investigation builds on a series of public welfare fraud cases that have disproportionately involved members of Minnesota’s Somali-American community, estimated at over 80,000 residents, many of whom arrived as refugees in the 1990s and 2000s. Federal authorities attribute much of the activity to lax oversight in programs like the Federal Child Nutrition Program and housing assistance, which saw budgets expand rapidly during the COVID-19 era.

Over the past five years, law enforcement has documented fraud in sectors including child nutrition, autism therapy billing, and rental subsidies, with losses exceeding $1 billion across at least three major plots.

As of November 2025, federal prosecutors reported 59 guilty verdicts tied to these schemes. A landmark case involves Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit that claimed to serve meals to thousands of children but instead funneled funds to personal expenses.

In June 2024, five defendants were convicted on charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery. Abdiaziz Shafii Farah of Savage, Minnesota, received convictions on 23 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and false statements in a passport application, while Abdimajid Mohamed Nur of Shakopee faced convictions for wire fraud and laundering proceeds from a $40 million sub-scheme.

Overall, more than 75 individuals have been charged in the Feeding Our Future matter alone, with sentences ranging from probation to over a decade in prison.

Additional convictions stem from related welfare frauds. In housing assistance schemes, providers billed for nonexistent services, with one case yielding guilty pleas from two of eight defendants charged in 2025 for defrauding $14 million.