Minnesotans a Piggybank for Fraudsters

Minnesotans like to joke that we are the “Land of 10,000 Taxes.” If you have a dime in your pocket, the governor and his minions in the legislature are probably scheming to find a way to get it into theirs. 

It’s all good because the government is going to spend it to make our state better than ever. More compassionate and friendly. Or, as Governor Tim Walz says, “neighborly.” It’s all about taking care of the needy, and who can object to that?

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a top VP contender for Kamala Harris, says socialism is actually just “neighborliness.” pic.twitter.com/xISVQSxIUv

— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) July 30, 2024

Well, it’s all a scam. Few people would argue that giving people a hand up when they are down is a bad idea, but by now, we should realize that the focus on the needy is a misdirection. A magician’s trick. A con job. If you believe that politicians are deeply concerned about those less fortunate, you are a sucker. 

Over the past few years, the US Attorney’s office in our state has been plodding through tens of cases, prosecuting the largest COVID fraud in the country. At least a quarter of a billion dollars was stolen by largely Somali gangs who partnered with well-connected Democrats to “Feed Our Future.” They set up phony meal distribution centers and billed the government gobs of money for non-existent meals. 

This follows a prior day-care scam, that stole something like half a billion dollars to take care of children who similarly didn’t exist. 

And now? We have the same thing: a program to help autistic kids–who doesn’t want to help autistic kids?–that benefited a different set of scammers. 

And that’s not all! Minnesota did the same thing to “help” former addicts get permanent housing, to aid in their recovery. Who doesn’t want to help people get back on their feet and become productive citizens again? It’s a good investment, turning tax consumers into taxpayers. 

Full report by @ryanraiche:https://t.co/IyUUyLLoXr

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) July 17, 2025

The common thread, of course, is that the government acted as the vital middleman, collecting the tax dollars from the compassionate citizens of Minnesota and giving them to the scam artists. 

First, the autism program:

The unprecedented crackdown that is underway right now to root out fraud in Minnesota’s growing autism program started around the time of a federal raid of two autism centers last year in Minneapolis and St. Cloud.

However, there are growing concerns that the state may have missed warning signs.

“It makes me sad for the families,” said Dr. Eric Larsson with the Lovaas Institute Midwest. He’s dedicated his life to helping families with autism and even helped the state stand up its autism program a decade ago.

“The only reason we’re delivering services is because families worked so hard over the past 30 years to develop this program,” he said.

But now the program is in the crosshairs of state investigators. As 5 INVESTIGATES first reported, 1 in 5 autism centers in the state is now under investigation after a new crackdown launched last fall.

“There was such a high need for autism services in Minnesota when the state began offering it, that it’s an unlicensed service, so there aren’t the same structures in place that there are for other programs,” said Shireen Gandhi, Temporary Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the agency that oversees the program.

There are currently more than 450 providers in the state who submit claims for Medicaid reimbursement. When the program first got off the ground in 2017, claims totaled more than $1 million.

But the program has exploded – last year, claims totaled more than $220 million.

Helping autistic kids was the excuse to set up the program. The purpose was the scam. 

It’s no coincidence that it was the federal government, not the state, which exposed the fraud. It was the same with the Feeding Our Future scam as well. The state was in on the fraud. 

Investigators search Housing Stabilization Services providers in probe of ‘massive’ fraud scheme https://t.co/ZA5UKLbPPZ

— The Minnesota Star Tribune (@StarTribune) July 16, 2025

And it’s the feds who are investigating the Housing Stabilization Services fraud, too. 

Federal agents are investigating a “massive scheme to defraud” Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program, according to court documents.

A search warrant filed with the U.S. District Court for Minnesota details the fraud investigation concerning the new Minnesota Medical Assistance benefit meant to help find and maintain homes for people with disabilities — including mental illnesses and substance use disorders — as well as the elderly. 

When the program started in 2020, it was estimated that it would cost taxpayers about $2.5 million a year. But by 2021, it cost $21 million. Last year, it ballooned to $104 million.

In the warrant, the FBI says the housing program has “proved to be extremely vulnerable to fraud,” and lists eight business locations where the alleged fraud took place. They are located throughout the Twin Cities, including in St. Paul, Roseville, Blaine, Little Canada and Woodbury. 

“Since Minnesota became the first state to offer Medicaid coverage for Housing Stabilization Services, dozens of new companies have been created and enrolled in the program,” the search warrant reads. “These companies, and the individuals that run them have taken advantage of the housing crisis and the drug addiction crisis in Minnesota to prey on individuals who need help getting on their feet as they recover from drug addiction.”

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into this program, and the people who were supposed to benefit got the shaft as the companies involved got the money. 

It’s a pattern: picking a group of people for whom we all have sympathy, setting up a program to “help” them, and milking that group for money. 

I call it “farming.” 

JUST IN: Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson at the scene of a search warrant in St. Paul related to Housing Stabilization Services:

“Fraud is a huge problem in Minnesota. Hopefully today will help put a stop to it.” pic.twitter.com/jjcRRBONZo

— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) July 16, 2025

Minnesota prides itself on good government, but the fact is that the image is carefully crafted propaganda to lull people into a sense that their willingness to pay high taxes yields nothing but good results for deserving people. 

🚨 MINNESOTA FRAUD: A Medicaid-funded Housing Stabilization Services program was initially budgeted to spend $2.5M per year.

That program has already spent $60M in 2025 alone and is riddled with fraud.

Welcome to Tim Walz’s Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/69AzAZGec9

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) July 16, 2025

Time and again, we see the same thing. The USAID scam at the federal level leveraged our desire to help people in foreign countries with food and medical care. The fortunate helping the unfortunate. 

In reality, it’s the fortunate helping the more fortunate, who laugh all their way to the bank. 

Federal agents raiding Housing Stabilization companies across the Twin Cities this morning. The companies have been the subject of ⁦@kare11⁩ investigations including this report last night: https://t.co/SJCiRLnkL4 pic.twitter.com/Nd9sHSGFNa

— A.J. Lagoe (@AJInvestigates) July 16, 2025

Tim Walz and the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party–our Democratic Party–are the common thread in all these scams. For more than a decade, they have been pushing the line that people are “happy to pay for a better Minnesota, all while spreading the taxpayers’ money around to politically-connected friends and constituent groups–the child care and “Feeding Our Future” scams were all about funneling money into the Somali community, who have formed one of the key constituencies in the Twin Cities region. 

Omar Fateh is a socialist running to be the mayor of Minneapolis. He says his goal is infiltrate the gov to enrich the Somalis: pic.twitter.com/JQgJJ2jSnb

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 14, 2025

Omar Fateh, running for mayor of Minneapolis, faced an ethics complaint after his brother in law was convicted of lying to a grand jury about – you guessed it – handing in ballots for other people without their permission.

Scam culture. Scam people. pic.twitter.com/sVXToBzG4h

— captive dreamer (@avaricum777) July 14, 2025

Minnesota has become a hub for fraud, and the national Democrats have taken notice–and exactly how you would expect. Tim Walz was rewarded for his role in these schemes–well known by then–by being nominated to be Vice President of the United States. 

Taxing people to do “good works” is not just an inefficient way to help people, it is little more than a scheme to make money. San Francisco spends ungodly amounts of money to house the homeless, and the number of homeless people goes up. With the increasing number of homeless people comes a bigger pot of money, and so on. 

It’s a scam. And one that the taxpayers tolerate because they don’t want to appear “mean” to people in need. 

Who does? 

We are all being taken for suckers.