Minnesota fraud scheme unearths millions in luxury property, cars: DOJ

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have launched new investigations into Minnesota's massive "Feeding Our Future" fraud case, pressing federal agencies to recover stolen taxpayer dollars and pursue additional enforcement actions, including a new Treasury Department probe. Republicans say the renewed investigations are necessary because, despite dozens of convictions, federal officials are still working to recover only a fraction of the stolen money — a process that has uncovered high-end vehicles, luxury homes, designer goods and large amounts of cash tied to the scheme. Meanwhile, city officials in Minneapolis are bracing for an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after the agency announced plans for a new operation in the state. At issue is a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a children's nutrition program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and overseen by the state of Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the stated goal of providing food to school-aged children. The scheme exploited the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to waive many of its standard requirements for the Federal Child Nutrition Program during the pandemic, including relaxing its requirement for non-school-based distributors to participate in the program. WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MINNESOTA’S ‘FEEDING OUR FUTURE’ FRAUD AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S LATEST CRACKDOWN Conspirators charged in the scheme falsely claimed to have served millions of meals to children during the pandemic, but instead used the money for personal gain, according to federal authorities. They are also accused of fabricating invoices, submitting fake attendance records and falsely distributing thousands of meals from hundreds of so-called food distribution "sites" across the state. At least 77 individuals in Minnesota have been indicted as part of the fraud scheme, as Fox News Digital previously reported, and it is believed to be the largest pandemic-era sche…