ST. PAUL – In an effort to finally get a handle on the waste, fraud and abuse that has been taking place in Minnesota over the past six years, Minnesota House Republicans have sent a formal request to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. The letter urges the Department of Justice to launch a fraud investigation in Minnesota.
“At minimum, Minnesota has $610 million in documented fraud, and most believe the total actually exceeds $1 billion,” said State Representative Greg Davids (R-Preston). “It’s clear we need to put a stop to this, and I’m hopeful the Department of Justice is willing to help.”
The request follows years of documented mismanagement and significant losses to fraudsters. Among the cases uncovered in Minnesota:
- Feeding Our Future: $250 million
- Childcare/CCAP: $150 million
- Childcare assistance: $100 million
- Medicaid: $50 million
- Frontline workers: $45 million
- Sober homes: $28 million
- Minnesota autism centers: $2 million
This year, the Minnesota House has created a committee that is tasked with bringing more fraudulent activities in this state to light. Davids said it has recently focused on the lack of oversight of taxpayer-funded grants to state nonprofits.
Committee members discovered that state government has not tracking mechanisms for nonprofits. Davids said this is troublesome when you realize $2.6 billion in state revenue was distributed to approximately 2500 different nonprofits across 27 state agencies, and 25% of the nonprofits received grants from more than one state agency.