Exposing Waste, Restoring Accountability, and Supporting Minnesotans
In recent years, Minnesota has become synonymous with fraud. Well-intentioned programs meant to help those in need have been exploited by bad actors and poorly managed by the agencies meant to protect them. The result has been billions of taxpayer dollars lost and growing public frustration with how the state government operates.
But fraud on this scale doesn’t happen by chance. It takes a system that tolerates negligence, overlooks warnings, and accepts mediocrity as normal. When accountability fades, systems become ripe for fraud, waste, and abuse.
Over the past several months at town halls, community events, youth sports, and in conversations around the district by constituents of all political affiliations, I’ve heard concerns about fraud in Minnesota and questions about how to stay informed and how you can help.
That’s why I decided to start this monthly newsletter dedicated to informing you on the state of fraud in Minnesota government. The MN Fraud Monitor will highlight where oversight has failed, what’s being done to fix it, how citizens can stay informed, and how you can report or help address fraud that you may see or hear about.
My goal is to bring clarity to priorities that too often remain buried in audits and legal filings, and to show how we can change the culture in government and work to rebuild trust and accountability.
This initial article is meant to provide background on fraud. Each month hereafter, the MN Fraud Monitor will track new investigations, highlight agency responses to audit findings, provide updates on new complaints, and follow the progress of legislative reforms aimed at closing gaps in state oversight.
A Culture of Negligence
Fraud grows in the spaces where leadership fails to set a standard. Across state agencies, a pattern has emerged: warnings are ignored, controls are left weak, and responsibility is blurred by bureaucracy.
The Office of the Legislative Auditor has repeatedly documented these failures. Reports have highlighted missing documentation, inadequate oversight, and a lack of follow-through in the very agencies responsible for enforcing compliance. Even the Governor’s Office was recently cited for multiple violations of state policy; the audit did not allege fraud, but it underscored just how normalized carelessness has become. And because OLA findings are recommendations rather than requirements, agencies can ignore them, which is why the same failures keep reappearing year after year.
These aren’t one-off mistakes; they’re evidence of a culture that has stopped expecting precision or accountability. When that mindset takes hold at the top, it spreads downward through every department and program. Restoring trust requires leaders willing to address those facts and reset the standard for what good governance looks like.
Feeding Our Future: The Breaking Point
No case has illustrated Minnesota’s oversight failures more clearly than Feeding Our Future. What began as a federal nutrition program during the pandemic became the largest Covid-era fraud scheme in the country. More than $250 million meant to feed children was stolen through fake invoices, fabricated meal sites, and sham organizations.
The Legislative Auditor later found that the Department of Education missed warning signs and failed to act decisively when irregularities surfaced. Federal prosecutors have now charged more than seventy-five defendants. The scope of the fraud revealed just how vulnerable Minnesota’s systems had become when oversight took a back seat.
Housing Stabilization Services: A Program Unravels
The Housing Stabilization Services program was designed to help Minnesotans with disabilities and those facing homelessness. Instead, it became another high-profile example of weak controls and unchecked billing. Investigators uncovered widespread falsification of records and claims for services that never happened. The Department of Human Services ultimately shut down the program in 2025, calling the level of fraud “unmanageable.”
Once again, the pattern was the same: good intentions, poor execution, and a lack of real-time oversight that allowed problems to spiral.
New Medicaid Audits: Oversight Begins to Shift
In October, the administration ordered an external review of fourteen Medicaid-funded programs flagged as high-risk for fraud or billing abuse. The review will be conducted by Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, which the administration contracted to examine claims across these programs. A third-party firm will analyze claims and recommend where payments should be paused or investigated.
It’s a necessary and overdue step. The decision acknowledges what years of audits have already shown: the state’s own systems failed to identify or prevent these problems early. The new audit is progress, but it’s also a reminder of how far Minnesota still must go to rebuild credibility.
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