***Editor's Note: Today's fraud committee hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. in Room G23 of the State Capitol in St. Paul.
NEWS RELEASE
MINNESOTA HOUSE FRAUD PREVENTION COMMITTEE MAJORITY REPORT RELEASED
ST. PAUL – On May 13, the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Committee is scheduled to adopt its Majority Report, summarizing the work of the Committee over the 2025-2026 Legislative Session. The report addresses the different vectors of fraud the Committee held hearings on over the past two years, providing the Majority’s findings and recommendations for future action.
“This report will serve as an important roadmap for the public and future Legislatures to understand the genesis of the staggering amount of fraud in the State of Minnesota.” said State Representative Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), Chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Committee. “The report outlines the ‘anatomy of fraud’ and the failure of the Walz Administration to take action.”
Robbins stated that, “This report describes how the Dayton and Walz Administrations enabled fraud, allowed fraud to continue, and covered up the fraud by trying to suppress findings by investigators and whistleblowers.”
In January of 2025, the Minnesota House of Representatives created the Committee as the first oversight committee in the history of the Legislature. The Committee was formed as part of the power-sharing agreement negotiated when the House was tied for only the second time in state history. The new House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee was formed in the wake of the Feeding our Future COVID-era meal fraud scheme and increasing concern that Minnesota’s non-traditional Medicaid waivered services programs were riddled with fraud.
At the time, leaders thought that Feeding Our Future (FOF) might exceed $250 million and that this unprecedented level of fraud justified special focus by an Oversight Committee. In December of 2025, First U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson estimated the fraud in 14 high-risk Medicaid programs to be $9 billion.
After two dozen hearings with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of whistleblower reports, and reviewing hundreds of documents and reviewing years of Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA) reports, the committee found the breadth and depth of fraud in Minnesota is much worse than anyone thought possible and stretched across multiple agencies within the Walz Administration.
The Committee has concluded that:
- Democrats in the Dayton and Walz Administrations, as well as in the Minnesota House of Representatives, took steps to suppress findings of fraud
- The Walz Administration enabled fraud by poor program design and weak controls
- The Walz Administration’s failure to hold anyone accountable for fraud, especially after having had the benefit of the OLA reports in March and April of 2019, is what enabled fraud to grow from an estimated $5 million - $100 million in the childcare program to billions across multiple Medicaid services
- Attorney General Ellison has failed to protect taxpayers and vulnerable Minnesotans
- Representative Ilhan Omar created the conditions for Feeding our Future
“The scope of the fraud is staggering,” said Robbins. “I hope the findings are recommendations are taken seriously. We have made enormous progress in exposing fraud, strengthening internal controls and bringing a culture of accountability to state government, but there is more work to do to bring an end to the fraud, protect taxpayers and vulnerable citizens, and restore Minnesotans faith in government and public programs.”
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