Minnesota fraud whistleblowers to receive cash payments for info, Bessent says
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Whistleblowers who come forward with information about Minnesota’s sprawling fraud scandal will receive cash payments, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on Fox News.
The Trump administration has launched a massive fraud investigation in Minnesota amid a growing web of allegations of money laundering schemes and misuse of taxpayer funds.
“We know these rats are going to turn on each other,” Bessent told The Ingraham Angle.
“We will be offering tip pay to anyone who wants to tell us who, what, when, where and how this fraud was committed. I think this will give us a big step forward in how to do this,” he added.
Critics Warn MINNESOTA LAW NOW IN EFFECT IS PREPARING THE ‘NEXT BILLION DOLLAR FRAUD’
The Center for Quality Learning in Minnesota was at the center of the state’s alleged child care fraud scandal. (Madelin Fuerste / Fox News Channel)
While many child care and food distribution facilities in Minnesota have been accused of misusing federal funds, a recent audit revealed fraud linked to taxpayer-funded grant programs.
The daycare and food distribution sites allegedly did not provide child care or serve food, but instead used the federal funds they received to launder money.
Nick Shirley disrupted the news cycle last month with a 42-minute video investigating Minnesota nurseries that were inactive despite receiving millions of dollars in government funding. (Nick Shirley)
A state audit found limited monitoring of grant programs within the Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to mental health and addiction services.
The Trump administration has frozen multiple federal funding streams to Minnesota, including certain funds from the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But a federal judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s freeze on nearly $10 billion in federal funding to five Democratic-led states.
BESSENT ACCUSES WALZ WHILE TREASURY INVESTIGATES WHETHER FRAUD FUNDS IN MINNESOTA REACHED TERRORIST GROUP AL-SHABAB
Homeland Security investigators were part of a fraud investigation in Minneapolis after a video was released of alleged daycare fraud. (Department of Homeland Security)
Bessent said the fraud is ongoing, pointing to a recent allegation that a convicted fraudster tried to bribe a juror.
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“One of the people convicted of fraud; he was given $200,000 to bribe a juror,” he explained. “And he was so corrupt that he took away $80,000 of that and only tried to bribe $120,000.”
