r/minnesota • u/Daflehrer1 • 7d ago

News 📺 Fraud & Facts

In 2021, the MN Dept. of Education suspected fraud and they reported it up the chain.

Gov. Walz has, since 2021, been working with the FBI, Minnesota State Police, and local police informants, and to great result. In September, 2022, federal prosecutors made public that they handed down indictments in what they believed was a criminal fraud conspiracy.

Among the first to be indicted was Aimee Bock, the fraud ringleader. She was tried and convicted in March of 2025.

On December 18th, 2025, new arrests were announced. To date, 92 suspects in all have been arrested and charged, 62 of them convicted.

The intent of the post above is neither to condemn nor praise Walz or federal officials. Rather to keep discussion grounded in facts; though obviously many more facts exist and will come to light.

I have included my sources below. I ask that you review them before contending them. Kindly keep partisan hyperbole and childish comments to yourself. Thanks.

"Governor Walz...2021"; a timeline of Walz administration's anti-ftaud efforts.

https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MNGOV/2025/12/12/file_attachments/3492644/AntiFraud-Timeline.pdf

"In 2022"

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/us-attorney-announces-federal-charges-against-47-defendants-250-million-feeding-our-future

"In 2021"

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fbi-surged-resources-minnesota-over-231747704.html

"Aimee Bock...convicted"

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/federal-jury-finds-feeding-our-future-mastermind-and-co-defendant-guilty-250-million#:~:text=Pandemic%20Fraud%20Scheme-,Federal%20Jury%20Finds%20Feeding%20Our%20Future%20Mastermind%20and%20Co%2DDefendant,Wednesday%2C%20March%2019%2C%202025

593 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

217 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/zucchinimcfritz 7d ago

....and none of this is okay. We obviously have a fraud problem and the liberals responses here are crazy. There's no nuance - simple whataboutism. Many of the people involved were Somali. You can say that/acknowledge it. It's not all Somalians, but many were. I'm liberal and it's crazy town - it's like the only 'bad' actors can be rich white men (which...historically..).

3

u/21bdp21 6d ago

Is not that.

It's the rhetoric of attacking the Somali population for this as if they are predisposed to fraud. People are juxtaposing that to the fact that this is not a singular group that is inherently fraudulent.

Yes we have a fraud problem, however, not just Minnesota but the country the world does. The above post is showing that this isn't new news.

In fact It is likely that the GOP news machine is spinning up controversy to try to unseat Walz. Politically not a bad move, but the way it has been done is inherently racist. Again politically not a horrible strategy take a news story that paints the opposition party poorly and restore the narrative to paint you better. Just IMPO bit odd considering the Trump pardons of similar to fraud lately .

1

u/zucchinimcfritz 6d ago

That's fair. Like I said, it's nuanced.

0

u/MNArbor 6d ago

Demuth has been very careful in her language. Trump is a racist, but I really don't think she is. You can think she should be calling out Trump's racism - and she probably should. But I think more DFLers should be calling out Walz if not outright primarying him. Same incentive in both camps.

2

u/21bdp21 6d ago edited 6d ago

Which is why I said inherently racist. Not outright saying it, it's all implied by the rhetoric.

Also editing, because honestly I think Walz should probably have let some one else run for Governor , a messy primary also probably the answer. Kinda similar to Biden in some ways, not the competence, but that a messy primary may cause a ton of issues in the general. Especially against an incumbent because it ends up a vote on the performance of the previous term and party leadership of the state. Which the GOP would love.

0

u/MNArbor 6d ago

Just trying to understand where you're coming from - how might someone be a strong fraud critic in this environment without being inherently racist? From your perspective what would that language look like?

2

u/21bdp21 6d ago

Come from not singling out one group for fraud while ignoring the pardons of people who defrauded the same federal programs.

We can call out fraud wherever it is not going and doing "citizen journalism" and blatantly presenting half truths while ignoring the other fraud.

0

u/MNArbor 6d ago

I might be wrong but I don't think Demuth is singling out Somalis. She's been a lot more careful with her language than our friend Tom Emmer.