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   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   (NewsNation) — The federal government is investigating a potential   
   social-services aid fraud scheme in which hundreds of millions of   
   dollars intended for a federally funded nutrition program was allegedly   
   used instead for lavish purchases.   
      
   Nearly 90 people have been convicted, a majority of whom are Somali   
   American, federal sources confirmed to NewsNation. Two defendants have   
   already been sentenced, with one facing 28 years in prison and another   
   owing $48 million in restitution.   
      
   Minnesota’s top Republican says fraud was ignored or covered up   
   The scandal has put the spotlight on Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim   
   Walz and the state’s Somali population, the latest immigration   
   enforcement target of the Trump administration.   
      
   Minnesota fraud: Which groups are involved?   
   At the center of the allegations is the Feeding Our Future nonprofit.   
      
   Founded in 2016, the organization opened more than 200 federal child   
   nutrition program sites across Minnesota and claimed to serve meals to   
   thousands of children each day during the COVID-19 pandemic.   
      
   But court documents argue that, rather than feeding children, money was   
   instead pocketed by fraudsters or sent elsewhere, to places including   
   Somalia, Kenya and China.   
      
   Minnesota DHS workers accuse Gov. Walz of ignoring fraud warnings   
   Charges first surfaced in 2022, when U.S. Attorney General Merrick   
   Garland called the $250 million fraud scheme “an egregious plot to steal   
   public funds meant to care for children in need.”   
      
   Newly obtained court documents reveal how defendants in Minnesota’s   
   massive child nutrition fraud scheme are accused of spending millions in   
   taxpayer funds intended for hungry children on lavish purchases   
   including island vacations, waterfront properties and luxury vehicles.   
   (NewsNation)   
      
   The FBI has also recently charged multiple people in similar cases   
   across Minnesota, including a housing stabilization fraud case involving   
   millions of dollars funneled from Minnesota’s Housing Stability Services   
   Program.   
      
   Another involves at least $14 million from the Early Intensive   
   Developmental and Behavioral Intervention benefit, a federally funded   
   autism program.   
      
   Where did Minnesota fraud money end up?   
   Funds raised by Feeding Our Future were spent on island vacations,   
   luxury vehicles, waterfront properties, jewelry and other lavish items,   
   according to court documents.   
      
   Federal trial exhibits show accused fraudsters celebrating a honeymoon   
   in the Maldives with champagne and purchasing entire buildings in Kenya.   
      
   Minnesota scammers spent kids’ food aid on luxury cars, jewelry   
   “They used this money that was supposed to be used for feeding children   
   to buy houses in Minnesota, resort property and real estate in Kenya and   
   Turkey, luxury cars, commercial property, jewelry and much more,” former   
   U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said when announcing the indictments in   
   September 2022.   
      
   Current and former federal sources confirmed to NewsNation that some of   
   the funds also ended up in the hands of an al-Qaida-linked terror group   
   in Somalia.   
      
   One recovered text message read, “Please send $1,000 to Mogadishu   
   Bakara,” referring to a market in Somalia previously controlled by   
   al-Shabaab and the site of the 1993 Black Hawk Down incident, which left   
   18 U.S. service members dead.   
      
   Are Minnesota taxpayers funding a Somali terror group?   
   A former member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force told NewsNation that   
   although there are legitimate refugees in Minnesota and they do have a   
   right to send money back home, “The system is way too untracked, way too   
   wild. People are committing crimes, and that money is going back to   
   Somalia.”   
      
   What has the FBI said about Minnesota fraud allegations?   
   FBI Director Kash Patel has promised additional resources will be   
   dedicated to fraud investigations in Minnesota, calling current   
   prosecutions the “tip of a very large iceberg.”   
      
   “We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this   
   investigation very much remains ongoing,” Patel said on Dec. 28.   
      
   Patel also referenced a viral video that features a nonoperational child   
   care facility in Minneapolis that allegedly received state and federal   
   funds.   
      
   The video sparked widespread media coverage of the cases, though Patel   
      
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