Name: How Minnesota fraudsters blew millions intended for hungry kids
Uploaded: 2025-12-11T20:48:50.042Z
Duration: 3 min 1 s
Description: CBS News is getting an exclusive look at how Minnesota fraudsters spent millions of taxpayer dollars that was supposed to go to hungry children. CBS Minnesota investigative reporter Jonah Kaplan has more.

CBS News is getting an exclusive look at how Minnesota fraudsters spent millions of taxpayer dollars that was supposed to go to hungry children. CBS Minnesota investigative reporter Jonah Kaplan has more.

Minnesota

An investigation in Minnesota uncovered that millions of taxpayer dollars, intended for feeding hungry children, were diverted by fraudsters to fund luxury purchases such as cars, vacations, and private villas. Prosecutors allege that about $1 billion was stolen from government-funded programs, with one nutrition-related case involving $250–$350 million in fraud and nearly $50 million spent in a single instance.

Authorities have charged 87 people across three related cases, convicting 61, most of whom are Somali Americans. Community leaders and investigators acknowledge the significant damage caused to the Somali community by the actions of a few, while emphasizing the importance of not generalizing blame to the entire group.

How Minnesota fraudsters blew millions intended for hungry kids

From luxury cars to private villas, we're getting an exclusive look at how Minnesota fraudsters blew millions of taxpayer dollars intended for hungry children. CBS Minnesota investigative reporter Jonah Kaplan joins me now for more on his reporting. Jonah, good to see you. You've gotten files that document a spending spree in which defendants, many of Somali descent, took taxpayer money to spend on luxury goods. How much did they take? What do they buy? It's quite something. And we're talking about, according to prosecutors, remember, about a billion dollars worth of taxpayer money stolen from a variety of government funded programs. This specifically, the documents we were able to obtain were from one, just one case of it involving nutrition, involving money that should have been paying for meals for hungry children. And this fraud was worth about $250 to $350 million. This specific case, we're talking nearly $50 million. And what did they use the money on? Vacations, honeymoons to the Maldives, a fleet of luxury cars, a Porsche, a Lexus, Mercedes. There it is. You see it there right now. This is a government exhibit from a trial. And many of these images and many of these files have never been shared publicly after the trial until now. Look at those images. I mean, look at that. That is a dream vacation for many people to go to something like the Maldives. Here's a box of cash worth more than $270,000. These are in text messages recovered by investigators. They looked into more than 3,600 bank accounts, the cell phones and computers for about 250 individuals. Just an amazing, wide ranging investigation. And this was an incredible spending spree. And the real question, of course, for investigators now, led by questions that have been provoked from the Trump administration. Was this all greed or did it lead to a national security risk? This comes as the Trump administration ordered all cardholders from Somalia and more than a dozen other countries reexamined, adding that he would end the temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota. Is there a connection? Well, there's no question that out of the 87 people charged in these three cases, 61 are convicted. The majority of those suspects, the majority of those defendants are Somali Americans. Now, is that fair to then paint a broad brush and hold an entire community collectively responsible? Well, it's no different than holding the Italians responsible for the mafia or the Jewish community for the actions of Jeffrey Epstein or Bernie Madoff. Of course not. But after speaking with prosecutors and investigators and even members of the Somali community themselves, there has to be a reckoning. They recognize that the damage done to their community by the interests of a few, the narcissistic, their words, interests of a few of them, or in this case, a few dozen of those community members. Yes, it's done a lot of damage to their community. Jonah Kaplan, thank you.

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