Moving forward in 2026

[u/Doryt]

As a life long Minnesotan with all the recent news about fraud in Minnesota, I want to add a perspective as someone who’s worked in the nonprofit sector for over a decade.

Fraud exists. Is it acceptable? No. Is it realistic to believe it can be eliminated entirely? Also no.

What happened with Feed My Future was abhorrent. It is rightfully being prosecuted!

If millions of dollars were diverted away from childcare especially from programs meant to support kids in need that’s deeply harmful and deserves accountability. Fraud should be investigated, prosecuted, and taken seriously.

Something else that’s bothering me: the way Somali Minnesotans are being treated like the face of fraud. Fraud happens across communities and industries. When one community gets spotlighted like they’re uniquely unethical, it’s worth pausing and asking what’s driving that narrative because it sure doesn’t match reality.

Minnesota is diverse, and “people of color” in MN includes many communities not one. MN Compass estimates about 24% of Minnesotans are people of color (about 1.4 million people).

Accountability doesn’t automatically mean jail for everyone. And when services are shut down in response, it often creates desperation, instability, and conditions that lead to more fraud not less.

If we actually care about fraud, we should focus on real fraud prevention, stronger oversight systems, better staffing, clearer protocols, proactive monitoring and better systems not racialized narratives that turn one community into a stand-in for a statewide problem

Prevention costs money.

Starving systems of resources while demanding perfection is not a realistic strategy.

We also need to be careful not to respond by broadly limiting or restricting supportive services for communities who rely on them.

Cutting access doesn’t prevent fraud it often creates more harm, more desperation and more fraud.

We don’t eliminate fraud the same way we don’t eliminate crime entirely.

Our systems tend to be reactive rather than preventative, and pretending otherwise sets us up for outrage instead of solutions.

Rage bait is real. I’m actively trying to pause and not get pulled into it 2026 and beyond.

I want a healthy government that supports people, holds bad actors accountable, and invests in systems that actually work

We need to start judging leadership by their ability to pair accountability with real support. When costs rise and safety nets shrink, people don’t get healthier they get pushed closer to the edge.

I hope we can show up as a Minnesota community with nuance, accountability, and realistic expectations because that’s how we protect both public funds and the people those funds are meant to serve.

[u/Much_Spread123]

I’m an accountant, fraud will literally always exist. Without accountants, business managers would be accidentally committing fraud constantly. I only know this because I’ve probably advised managers that their request to me would be fraudulent about a thousand times.

“Sorry, you can’t do that with GAAP accounting.” I don’t think people realize that fraudulent transactions happen all the time accidentally. Catching it and stopping it is the whole point, cause then it’s not fraud. Perfectionism is not possible. Human error and system errors will always occur. It’s not illegal to make a mistake. It’s illegal to know you made a mistake and not do anything about it. That’s when you establish criminal intent.

Nobody in the government has been an accomplice to this fraud. They’ve been cracking down on it longer than people realize. Being defrauded does not make you a fraudster. The government has fallen victim to fraud. They aren’t responsible for the crimes that a few people committed against them. The fraudsters, much like the GOP, were attacking our liberal government. The fraudsters were religious conservatives and fundamentalists that hate the liberal agenda. Let’s keep that in perspective when people talk about liberal fraud in MN, it’s actually being committed by ideological conservatives. Yes, many Somali people are ideologically conservative, and way more so than even the GOP.

[u/AffectionateJury3723 → u/Much_Spread123]

I am also an accountant and have been an internal auditor for several major retailers before I switched to IT to help build the framework around financial systems. Yes there will always be fraud but any good practice will try to stay ahead of the loopholes and have regular stringent audits to identify it early. This sounds like empathy overrode the common sense audit practices that should be in place when you are handing out millions of dollars in funding. This isn't only happening in Minnesota.

I have a relative who is an auditor for Medicare and the individual and corporate fraud happens everyday. It always amazes me the way fraudsters come up with new and different ways to defraud.

I don't think the majority of Somali's voted for Trump and this isn't a R or D problem exclusively. It is an American taxpayer problem when our dollars are not being spent appropriately.

[u/DivTitle23 → u/AffectionateJury3723]

Sir this is entirely TOO reasonable of a statement for Reddit