Minnesota government workers blame Walz for 'massive fraud' amid allegations against Somali community

By Fox News · Fox News

More than 400 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) accused Gov. Tim Walz of failing to act on widespread fraud warnings and retaliating against whistleblowers. The Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees account, which says it consists of more than 480 current staff members at the Minnesota DHS, wrote on X that Walz is "100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota." "We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports," the group claimed. "In addition to retaliating against whistleblower[s], Tim Walz disempowered the Office of the Legislative Auditor, allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance." Walz's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. FOOD-STAMP FRAUD NUMBERS EXPOSE WHICH STATES ARE DRAINING THE MOST TAXPAYER DOLLARS The group’s claims come as federal prosecutors continue to unravel one of the nation’s largest COVID-era fraud cases. The Justice Department announced new charges last week against the 78th defendant in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, which prosecutors say involved more than $250 million in stolen funds from a federally-funded child nutrition program and has already resulted in over 50 convictions. Many of the individuals charged come from Minnesota’s Somali community. The New York Times reported that what initially appeared to many Minnesotans as an isolated case of pandemic-era fraud has broadened into a much wider concern for state and federal officials. The Times reported that over the past five years, according to law enforcement authorities, several fraud schemes proliferated in parts of Minnesota’s Somali community. A number of individuals allegedly created companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social…