Law enforcement serves 22 search warrants in Minnesota fraud investigation
Law enforcement, including the FBI and federal and state agencies, executed 22 search warrants in Minneapolis on Tuesday, according to a law enforcement source.
A Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News that the agencies were "involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation."
Other agencies, such as Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation were also involved in the searches, according to social media posts from those agencies.
"DHS will continue working to deliver answers to the American people on how their taxpayer dollars were abused," according to a post on X by the Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump administration has maintained there was fraud committed in Minnesota, deploying federal agents to investigate in December.
Nearly 65 individuals have pleaded guilty or been convicted for being part of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy that exploited two federally funded nutrition programs to fraudulently obtain more than $250 million in one of the largest COVID-era fraud schemes anywhere in the nation, according to DOJ.
The conspiracy used a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future, which was supposed to provide meals to in-need children, to avoid scrutiny from the Minnesota Department of Education, which was supposed to be conducting oversight of the programs.
In January, the Trump administration froze $10 billion in federal funds in Minnesota and four other Democrat-run states over allegations of fraudulent child-care programming. A federal judge later granted an injunction blocking the administration from freezing the funds.
That same month, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dropped his reelection bid, saying that he would not be able to give a campaign all of his attention as he worked to defend Minnesota against allegations of fraud and right-wing attacks -- including from President Donald Trump.
Walz said Tuesday's raids today occurred because of joint cooperation between the state and federal authorities.
"If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught -- and that’s exactly what we saw today," he said. "We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it."
