Bondi announces 60 people have been convicted of fraud in four Minnesota scams so far

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday detailed four cases of alleged widespread fraud in Minnesota, which have led to the conviction of over 60 people so far and the arrests of 98 people, the majority of whom are of Somali descent.

Minnesota has been accused of allowing widespread fraud schemes to infiltrate their publicly funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Medicaid, and steal millions of taxpayer dollars.

Although the fraud allegations have received national attention under the Trump administration in recent months, local outlets have reported that fraud in the state has been going on for over a decade, with some resulting in guilty pleas in 2016.

Bondi said the Justice Department has been investigating fraud allegations in Minnesota "for months," and that the investigation has been a team effort with assistance from other Trump officials like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The attorney general also highlighted four schemes in her social media post, which include fraud tied to COVID-19 era programs, and fraud in the state's Medicaid program, along with bribery allegations related to a juror.

Bondi noted that the biggest scam appears to be part of Minnesota's "Feeding Our Future" program, which was designed to provide food for children during the pandemic. There have been 78 people charged in the scheme so far, of which 57 have been convicted, including its alleged leader Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, who was sentenced to 28 years in prison in August.

Another scandal was allegations that three people tried to bribe jury members with $120,000, and promised more would be coming if the juror acquitted all seven defendants.

"Not unlike what you would see in the corrupt Somali judicial system, defendants in the Feeding Our Future case intimidated a cooperating defendant and attempted to bribe jurors," Bondi wrote in a thread on X. 

Bondi said the third scam was related to autism treatment under Medicaid, which she claimed included the creation of "fake autism clinics" that Somali migrants would take their children to in exchange for huge financial kickbacks.

"The state government program underwriting this scam was supposed to cost $20 million," she wrote. "Somehow, it ballooned to $200 million…at taxpayers’ expense."

The final scam was tied to Medicaid fraud for medication and "housing stabilization services," that was intended to help people struggling with mental illnesses, disabilities and seniors. 

"The [fraudsters] started sham LLCs and began signing up drug addicts and others in halfway houses for services that were NEVER provided," Bondi claimed. "The program was supposed to cost $2.6 million per year – it exploded to $125 million per year."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.