Overview
- Sources say ongoing federal probes now top $1 billion in identified losses across schemes, with the Feeding Our Future case alone alleging roughly $250 million stolen through fabricated meal claims.
- The Small Business Administration has opened an investigation into whether individuals and nonprofits already indicted in Minnesota also fraudulently obtained PPP loans, with the agency pledging to recover any illegal payouts.
- The U.S. Treasury is examining whether any diverted funds reached the Somalia-based terrorist group Al‑Shabaab, though no terrorism‑financing charges have been publicly filed.
- A CBS investigation reports state officials flagged anomalies as early as 2019 before pandemic rule changes accelerated the fraud; at least 87 people have been charged and 61 convicted across related cases.
- PolitiFact found Governor Tim Walz’s claim that his administration put offenders in jail to be false, noting federal investigators and prosecutors led the cases, as audits faulted the state’s oversight while Congress and ICE increased scrutiny in the Twin Cities.