Somalia fraud probe targets Tim Walz over $1 billion COVID relief scandal

The Home Oversight Committee has opened an investigation into Gov. Tim Walz’s dealing with of an enormous reduction program in Minnesota that federal prosecutors say has turn into the nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud scheme.

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was warned of large fraud in a pandemic meals help program for kids, however he did not act,” Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., mentioned in an announcement obtained by Fox Information Digital.

“As an alternative, whistleblowers who raised issues confronted retaliation,” Comer added. “Due to Governor Walz’s negligence, criminals – together with Somali terrorists – stole almost $1 billion from this system whereas youngsters suffered. The Home Oversight Committee will conduct an intensive investigation into Governor Walz’s failure to safeguard taxpayer {dollars}.”

Comer’s choice comes because the Treasury Division introduced it, too, is investigating the scandal and whether or not Minnesota taxpayer {dollars} have been diverted to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

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Gov. Tim Walz has come beneath hearth after almost 500 Minnesota Division of Human Providers staff accused his administration of failing to behave on early warnings about widespread fraud and retaliation in opposition to whistleblowers. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)

The Justice Division mentioned about $300 million in taxpayer cash supposed to feed low-income youngsters in the course of the pandemic was diverted by a nonprofit referred to as Feeding Our Future in a sprawling case that has now grown to incorporate not less than 78 defendants. The The United States Attorney’s Office in Minnesota mentioned that is the most important fraud scheme to fight the pandemic but charged within the US

Among the organizations concerned within the fraud have been led by Somali Minnesotans. federal prosecutors say.

Minnesota schooling officers say Feeding Our Future and its associate organizations have filed greater than $500 million in claims — and Comer has claimed whole losses could have approached $1 billion.

Walz has come beneath hearth after almost 500 staff of the Minnesota Division of Human Providers accused his administration of failing to behave on early warnings about widespread fraud and retaliation in opposition to inner whistleblowers.

As chairman of the Republican Occasion-led committee, Comer has the authority to subpoena paperwork and witnesses and refer doable wrongdoing to the Justice Division.

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A report from the Manhattan Institute’s Metropolis Journal, citing unnamed counterterrorism sources, alleges that a number of the stolen funds have been transferred to Somalia and probably ended up with Al-Shabaab — though not one of the federal indictments embrace terrorism costs and the Justice Division has not confirmed such a hyperlink.

Minnesota Division of Human Providers officers wrote on X on Saturday that Walz “is 100% chargeable for large fraud in Minnesota.”

Ladies stroll down a tree-lined road in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, house to one of many largest Somali communities within the U.S. (Michael Dorgan/Fox Information Digital)

“We alerted Tim Walz to fraud early on in hopes of cooperation in stopping fraud, however no, we acquired the alternative response,” they wrote.

“Tim Walz systematically retaliated in opposition to whistleblowers utilizing monitoring, threats and repression, and went out of his strategy to discredit fraud reviews,” the group alleged. “Along with retaliating in opposition to whistleblowers, Tim Walz defunded the Workplace of the Legislative Auditor, permitting businesses to disregard their audit findings and steerage.”

Information of Comer’s analysis was first reported by the New York Post.

Fox Information Digital reached out to Walz’s workplace however didn’t instantly obtain a response.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday launched a federal investigation into claims that Minnesota taxpayer {dollars} have been siphoned to the terrorist group al-Shabaab beneath the Biden administration and Walz’s management — an allegation he mentioned requires pressing investigation.

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“At my route, @USTreasury is investigating allegations that beneath the reckless mismanagement of the Biden administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax {dollars} could have been diverted to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab,” Bessent wrote on X.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee, throughout a listening to in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)

“Due to the management of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, we’re performing rapidly to make sure that US taxes don’t fund acts of world terror. We are going to share our findings as our investigation continues,” he added.

The New York Times reported that what initially appeared to many Minnesotans as an remoted case of pandemic-era fraud has become a wider concern for state and federal officers. Over the previous 5 years, legislation enforcement authorities say, a number of fraud schemes have proliferated in elements of Minnesota’s Somali neighborhood, with people allegedly establishing firms that billed authorities businesses for thousands and thousands of {dollars} for social companies that have been by no means delivered.

Walz spoke at a information convention final week concerning the alleged fraud, saying it “undermines belief in authorities” and “undermines packages which are completely important to enhancing the standard of life.”

“If you happen to commit fraud, irrespective of the place you come from, what you appear to be, what you consider, you are going to jail,” Walz mentioned.

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He was confronted with a query concerning the state of affairs on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, when host Kristen Welker requested if he took duty for failing to cease the fraud in his state.

“Properly, certain, I take duty for placing individuals in jail,” the governor responded. “I wish to be aware that it is not simply Somalis. Minnesota is a beneficiant state. Minnesota is a affluent state, a well-run state. We have now a AAA bond score. However that pulls criminals. These individuals go to jail. We do every part we will. However to demonize a whole neighborhood based mostly on the actions of some individuals, that is lazy,” he mentioned.

Greg Wehner and Ashley Carnahan of Fox Information contributed to this report.