Trump administration announces investigation into massive COVID fraud scheme by Somali community, accuses Walz of obstruction
The Trump administration is investigating allegations of massive fraud by members of the Somalian community, and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz (Minn.) is being accused of obstruction.
Small Business Administration Sec. Kelly Loeffler announced the investigation Tuesday after several indictments involving alleged fraud in relation to coronavirus pandemic relief funding.
‘Despite Governor Walz’s best efforts to obstruct, SBA continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable, full stop.’
“Numerous individuals and nonprofits indicted in the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scandal, including Feeding Our Future, received SBA PPP loans in addition to other state and federal funding,” Loeffler said in the post on social media.
In November, federal prosecutors announced a 78th indictment in the scam. In that latest case, a man named Abdirashid Bixi Dool is accused of falsifying records for fake food sites in order to steal more than $1 million in pandemic relief funds.
Dozens have already been convicted in connection with the Feeding Our Future scam alone.
Loeffler went on to accuse the former Democratic vice presidential candidate of obstructing efforts to investigate the scams.
“Today, I have ordered an investigation into the network of Somali organizations and executives implicated in these schemes,” she added. “Despite Governor Walz’s best efforts to obstruct, SBA continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable, full stop.”
Loeffler cited a report from a group of Minnesota state workers at the Dept. of Human Services accusing the governor of being complicit in the theft of government funds.
“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response,” reads a statement from the group’s social media account.
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“Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports,” the group added. “Instead of partnership, we got the full weight of retaliation by Tim Walz, certain DFL members and an indifferent mainstream media. It’s scary, isolating and left us wondering who we can turn to.”
In September, Walz was subpoenaed by the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee for not being responsive enough to a request for documents related to the fraud scheme.
“This was an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program,” reads a statement from a Walz spokesperson at the time.
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