The Department of Justice filed federal charges on Wednesday against 15 people for fraud in Minnesota. The individuals allegedly defrauded social services programs to the tune of more than $90 million in taxpayer money, according to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.
“This is not the end of our work in Minnesota. This is not the end of the beginning of our work in Minnesota. This is the beginning of our work in Minnesota,” McDonald said.
The announcement of the charges came just after Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding Our Future, was sentenced for more than 40 years in prison on federal charges that included bribery. Feeding Our Future was a nonprofit that prosecutors claim lied about providing meals to economically-disadvantaged children during the pandemic. Federal charges were brought against dozens of people starting in 2022.
Bock was convicted of seven charges and before her sentencing, unsuccessfully petitioned the judge for a new trial. Only about $50 million of the estimated $250 million in federal funds has been recovered.
It should be noted that Bock is not Somali because Trump and his supporters have framed the Minnesota fraud issue as something for which Somalis were responsible.
Some of the other cases involve alleged Medicaid fraud.
Two individuals allegedly inflated the hours of service provided in assisting needy people with housing services. Additionally, the owners of some group homes for individuals with disabilities pocketed $1 million in Medicaid billings and used the money on personal expenditures, such as luxury vehicles.
McDonald also mentioned that some of the prospective defendants falsely diagnosed children with autism to receive government money in what he called “the largest autism fraud scheme ever charged by the Department of Justice.”
