MDE Files Legal Claim Against Feeding Our Future to Recover State Funds
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) today filed a claim seeking to recover more than half a million dollars in state funds used to defend the agency against Feeding Our Future’s dishonest legal attacks. MDE’s claim was filed in a Dakota County District Court action instituted by Attorney General Keith Ellison.
“Yesterday’s DOJ and FBI announcement made it clear that MDE’s fast action and diligence launched the investigation that stopped the fraud and led to dozens of indictments. As part of the conspiracy identified in yesterday’s indictments, Aimee Bock and Feeding our Future filed a meritless lawsuit accusing MDE of discrimination in order to continue their brazen scheme. That lawsuit was based on lies and was intended to intimidate MDE and distract from Feeding Our Future’s ongoing fraud,” says Education Commissioner Dr. Heather Mueller. “MDE was forced to expend resources to defend our agency and staff from this baseless sham lawsuit. The value of those resources must be returned to Minnesota’s taxpayers.”
The claim seeks to recover more than $583,000.00 of state taxpayer dollars MDE had to spend defending the agency against Feeding Our Future’s dishonest legal attacks.
More information is contained in the claim.
As noted in the press conference by the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), MDE partnered with federal authorities and provided them critical information throughout their investigation. When MDE identified the unexplained growth of Feeding Our Future, MDE immediately reported those activities to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Midwest Regional Office, USDA’s Office of Inspector General, and the FBI until someone took the troubling spending as seriously as MDE. When MDE stopped payments, Feeding our Future hit back with accusations of racism and a sham lawsuit. Because of Feeding our Future’s misrepresentations in that lawsuit, a court instructed the payments to continue.
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