Fraud in Minnesota (and everywhere else)

[PJF]

Why? What does my attention do to stop the fraud?

Why do lefties love their tax dollars being wasted? I never understand this.

 

[Eminence]

Okay, but the video is the primary reason this has gained national attention. I don't recall any national media coverage of this prior to that video.

Isn't it a good thing that the public is being made aware of this, regardless of the source? Isn't fraud always bad? Why can't the goal of stopping fraud related to government spending be a bi-partisan goal?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html

NYT from a few months ago. In short - yes, a metric crap ton of fraud is happening (particularly in MN, though not just in Minnesota) mostly started under Trumps crappy unregulated Covid policies.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Okay, but the video is the primary reason this has gained national attention. I don't recall any national media coverage of this prior to that video.

Isn't it a good thing that the public is being made aware of this, regardless of the source? Isn't fraud always bad? Why can't the goal of stopping fraud related to government spending be a bi-partisan goal?

Stopping fraud is great. Making up false stories to politicize it is not. Spreading false information that hurts peoples lives that are not committing fraud for political gain is not. Distracting from real fraud that's much worse is not great.

But it's really hard to think this post and people up in arms about this are acting in good faith when they are not up in arms about people who committed proven fraud on a truly despicable level are pardoned by Trump and it's crickets. The same goes for those who support Trump period who has even convicted of awful fraud many times.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Dude, you really needs some new news sources. 9 billion in fraud. Empty daycare centers receiving millions of dollars and no kids are in the buildings. The facts are quite obvious.

Oh I'm sure you really care about this specific issue. I've seen you harping on fraud a lot on here and I'm sure you did genuine independent research on it and got some actual facts.

I'm sure the good people of Minnesota are in your thoughts and prayers everyday and you actively condemn all people who commit fraud or support those committing fraud.

Can you share some more memes you saw on Twitter that prove this massive fraud? Maybe you should put me on your email list you spam friends and family with, these are really getting undercover real news that those that believe in facts aren't getting.

 

[Ron Mexico]

This is some solid right wing porn. A massive scandal that happens to be completely democrats fault and oh let's sprinkle lots of racism in so we can get worked up about immigrants and Somalians. I'm sure everyone is talking about the white lady who was already convicted and at the heart of it right?

This is right out of the far right propaganda machine. Spread lots of false information with scary trigger words and get people worked up. By the time real information gets discussed it's too late everyone already got worked up and thinks it happened.

 

[Sardines]

Okay, but the video is the primary reason this has gained national attention. I don't recall any national media coverage of this prior to that video.

Isn't it a good thing that the public is being made aware of this, regardless of the source? Isn't fraud always bad? Why can't the goal of stopping fraud related to government spending be a bi-partisan goal?

It is a bipartisan goal, would the Republicans be interested in holding up their end or is it just Democrats who need to be held accountable in this bipartisan effort?

Get ****ing serious man!

 

[LogGrad98]

I read today that Tim Walz will no longer be seeking re-election. I haven't been closely following the fraud allegations in MN (aside from headlines). However, you know it must be bad if he's suspending his re-election campaign. This prompted me to do a little research into Minnesota's annual financial and compliance report (available online at Federal Audit Clearinghouse). I've mentioned on this site before that I conduct audits of federal spending through my CPA firm (mostly Native American governments), so this stuff really interests me.

Here's a brief summary of Minnesota's 2024 audit report:

- $20.1 billion of total federally funded spending for the year
- 18 total grants (funding sources) were selected for audit by the auditors (they don't audit everything)
-29 total findings (very high number - and mostly involving Human Services). I've personally never seen an audit report with more than 20 (although I'm sure plenty exist)
-They issued modified opinions on many of the grants (essentially saying these grants are severely breaking the rules and not adhering to federal guidelines)
-Findings reported include massive questioned costs, not verifying if vendors are federally debarred, not reporting back to the federal agency regarding spending and compliance, nearly $10 million of costs reported incorrectly related to child care, not monitoring organizations they pass money to (daycare centers), lack of documentation verifying that people and organizations receiving funds met eligibility requirements, etc.)

This is an absolutely terrible audit report, and anyone who understands how to read these would understand that there is clearly a massive lack of controls around how the state is administering its federal funding.

What is strange to me is that it takes a viral video to get the media and general public to show an interest in this, when it's painfully obvious that this state is not utilizing federal resources well. I wish the media would better report on these types of audit results to inform the public on how its tax dollars are being spent.

Agreed. I wish all fraud that is discovered would be equally reported on and the people involved held fully accountable including jail time. If Walz was part of it, he needs to pay the penalty. Just like Trump needs to do jail time for the many counts of fraud he was convicted of. Our justice system is pretty messed up when they let people who were convicted of a crime get away with it just because they were voted into public service. It should not shield Walz and it should not shield Trump. We are in full agreement there.

I wish they could ferret out more of this, because this happens regularly across the country. Fraud like this is likely rampant and needs better controls in place to stop it. Let's start with no shield allowed for the president, then we can move on to third party oversight and auditing of the supreme court and their dealings with billionaires and such, then we can move on to the legislature and stop all forms of lobbying in this country, and have third party oversight and auditing of financial records for all members of congress and the senate, then we can set federal guidelines, based on the above, to better audit and hold governors and state legislatures accountable. Let's do it!

 

[PJF]

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

Why? What does my attention do to stop the fraud?

I can't tell if you are being sincere. You pointed out supposed fraud from Trump on this very thread. Why do you care about that fraud? Why does that fraud warrant your attention enough to share with others?

It seems pretty obvious to me that public awareness of fraud related to federal funds is the first step to corrective action. Public awareness puts pressure on politicians to actually address the issue and minimize government fraud, waste, and abuse.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

It is a bipartisan goal, would the Republicans be interested in holding up their end or is it just Democrats who need to be held accountable in this bipartisan effort?

Get ****ing serious man!

I posted this as a CPA that can read/understand these types of audit report findings and tried to put it in context with my initial post. If you have a conservative led state involved in a fraud scandal related to federal funding, I'd be happy to look that up too.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

I wish they could ferret out more of this, because this happens regularly across the country. Fraud like this is likely rampant and needs better controls in place to stop it. Let's start with no shield allowed for the president, then we can move on to third party oversight and auditing of the supreme court and their dealings with billionaires and such, then we can move on to the legislature and stop all forms of lobbying in this country, and have third party oversight and auditing of financial records for all members of congress and the senate, then we can set federal guidelines, based on the above, to better audit and hold governors and state legislatures accountable. Let's do it!

That's a pretty lofty goal, and much of it doesn't involve fraud/theft of federal funding.

I will say that you are right that it happens more than people realize. I've seen it quite a bit in auditing government entities (albeit not to the scale of what's being reported in MN). What I think would be even more shocking to the American public is seeing how much waste (not fraud) there is. If there is a $1,000,000 grant issued to an entity trying to feed the needy, I can guarantee you that only about $250,000 of that actually goes to food and related costs to achieving the objective. The other 75% is tied up in overhead indirect costs, administrative salaries, insurance, etc.

 

[fishonjazz]

I can't tell if you are being sincere. You pointed out supposed fraud from Trump on this very thread. Why do you care about that fraud? Why does that fraud warrant your attention enough to share with others?

It seems pretty obvious to me that public awareness of fraud related to federal funds is the first step to corrective action. Public awareness puts pressure on politicians to actually address the issue and minimize government fraud, waste, and abuse.

I didn't say trumps fraud needs national attention.
It just needs to be handled by the courts and he needs to be sentenced accordingly.
You and I having knowledge of his fraud obviously doesn't matter in the least.