$250 Million Federal Fraud in Minneapolis (Ramsey: cul-de-sac, for rent, crimes)

[Lillie767]

You might be interested in a thread in Current Events about a $250 million fraud in Minneapolis.

"https://www.city-data.com/forum/current-events/3382754-massive-fraud-uncovered-minneapolis.html


"In court filings, the F.B.I. said it had discovered a “massive fraud scheme” among groups that Feeding Our Future was supposed to oversee, saying they siphoned off tens of millions of dollars by charging taxpayers for nonexistent meals.

In affidavits filed in federal court, the Justice Department said it was investigating at least 15 different feeding operations. Together, the F.B.I. said, these groups — all of which were supposed to be overseen by Feeding Our Future — had received more than $65 million from federal food programs during the coronavirus pandemic."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/u...stigation.html

PLEASE POST ANY COMMENTS IN CURRENT EVENTS THREAD

[Teak]

We in Minnesota got this news back in February. Some of us thought it would get buried since this has DFL written all over it, but, hey, it was too big to hide and the Feds got involved, bypassing the state AG.

[Teak]

And now Walz is lying about his failure to stop the Minnesota Department of Education from funding Feeding Our Future when the scam was first uncovered. He blamed it on the judge. Here is what the judge had to say:

“As the public court record and Judge Guthmann’s orders make plain, Judge Guthmann never issued an order requiring the MN Department of Education to resume food reimbursement payments to FOF. The Department of Education voluntarily resumed payments and informed the court that FOF resolved the ‘serious deficiencies’ that prompted it to suspend payments temporarily. All of the MN Department of Education food reimbursement payments to FOF were made voluntarily, without any court order,” the statement said.

https://alphanews.org/judge-calls-ou...ng-our-future/

[TheOldPuss]

Originally Posted by Teak

We in Minnesota got this news back in February. Some of us thought it would get buried since this has DFL written all over it, but, hey, it was too big to hide and the Feds got involved, bypassing the state AG.

Indeed. The whole scheme is outrageous; heads should roll, beginning at the top.

[Nakitha]

Lillie, Teak, and Old Puss,
I have been following this too.

It sure is horrible.
Waltz got caught in a bold face lie.
He should be impeached, although not enough time before the election.
Keith Ellingson should be gone too.

That money is gone overseas and never to be seen again.
I read Ilan Omar got some of that money.

What ever happened with that big daycare scheme money fraud a few years back?

Wasn’t it sort of along the same lines. They were collecting money and no such kids were in daycare?

Now they did it with food?

[Lodestar]

My viewpoint is from a social aspect as it's the best way I can analyze this issue. I am trying to speak to both sides of the issue because I believe that the more of us who succeed in a legal manner the more of us who will be well adjusted.

I hope while reading this everyone understands I believe in helping and I believe in all manner of other human beings. The altruistic goal is the same in my mind between right and left but the path to success might look different.
One of the differences might be that I want to see people succeed in a legal manner. I can go into all kinds of psychological reasons why this is better for society and for the individual.

A few things that have disturbed me:

We had the daycare scams in our small city, also. But here they were getting paid to take care of their own children.

I remember seeing the daily walks and thought, How resourceful. Communal childcare.

I remember MPR also doing a surprising report on family-provided health care. In MN a family member can get reimbursed for being available for daily care. This was quite a while ago and the canary in the coal mine. Someone researched the addresses of where the care was being given and they turned out to be abandoned businesses and other fraudulent locations. It was very unusual at that time for MPR to report on this kind of thing.

A building where a friend who married a refugee lives is full of refugee mothers living without their husbands who live in the Twin Cities. This enables them to be eligible for assistance. On Sunday afternoons the parking lot is full of Twin Cities taxis while the father visits the family.

A city official visited to help collect unpaid rent and was told there was no money for rent. He suggested assistance in finding jobs and was told, "In our culture women don't work outside the home." DH said this created a situation for the city which felt it had a significant problem resolving issues of cultural respect and legalities in Minnesota.

And I suppose we do. When you have legal wrongdoing by a population you are attempting to help directly related to the issue it puts you in a most compromised position. Our government in MN doesn't have an inclination to prosecute people we want to succeed.

This became a personal hope for me. Some years ago I had a refugee family as neighbors. About once a week their little boy would come to my door asking for odds and ends - postage stamps, batteries, change,etc. I knew the family was getting a lot of support from the government and a local church so eventually, in an attempt to help him adjust to a different culture and not settle into a welfare-minded lifestyle I made a plan.

The next time he came and asked for money I sat with him and explained about the expectation of work for money earned. Asked him if he'd like to try. He said yes, so I got a rake and garbage bag, showed him a smallish section of lawn and told him that was a dollar's worth of raking.

He was back at the door in five minutes. I checked with him and showed him how to completely rake the spot. He finished, I paid him and asked him if he'd like to come every day and make another dollar. He said no. I never had him knock again.

Felt bad about that. Because of my connections by the time he was a teen I was aware he was in the legal system but they were going the counseling route. This seems suitable since they have truly a large cultural barrier to surmount. And it will be the younger generations that will need to make the adjustments.

I felt invested in him and so did a lot of other people. But eventually legal consequences were unavoidable and he now lives in incarceration. Theft and some other things.

It's a sad story that could have ended differently. I wonder what any state/individual could have done differently.

[PullMyFinger]

DFL corruption. Of course they will all be re-elected.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

A fourth person has pled guilty. I hope a lot more people go to jail for a long time. This stuff makes me more mad than just some crook on the street committing street crimes.

These white collar, political corruption crimes are much worse because all this was enabled through the goodwill of the people, and some jackasses decided to take advantage of public trust.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/...e-8f28737a991c

Quote from article:
According to the DOJ, Ali and others involved in the Youth Inventors Lab claimed they served meals to hundreds or thousands of children a day, and submitted for reimbursement from the government, but never served any meals. They also submitted fake invoices from a vendor that never provided the group with any food.

In total, the DOJ said Youth Inventors Lab claimed to have served more than 1.3 million meals between Dec. 2020 and June 2021, and fraudulently received more than $3 million in reimbursements from Feeding Our Future.

[wamer27]

I tried leaving my driveway and a nondescript Ford suv was blocking half it with it’s backend. We have about a 10 ft gap between mine and my neighbors driveways in our cul-de-sac. The suv slowly moved forward and barely let me back out. Once I did I stopped and stared at them, the lady saw this and got out and showed me a Ramsey County Sheriff Police badge and said she was looking at my neighbor. When I came back 10 mins later she was still there, then I noticed my neighbor leave and she followed her. Within 2 mins my neighbor returned without Sheriff. It made no sense to me, but I bet it has to do with this. I don’t know my neighbor's name, but she just went back to Somalia a week or two ago…I hope it’s not because of this, but her two 20 something early kids stayed. One of the main buildings involved in the scam is two blocks from my house.