Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday announced a new statewide fraud prevention program intended to tighten oversight after the Feeding Our Future scandal, which investigators say siphoned about $250 million in taxpayer funds meant to feed children during the pandemic.
Walz named Tim O’Malley director of program integrity. O’Malley, a former FBI agent who previously led the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) after being appointed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, has also served as chief judge of the state’s Court of Administrative Hearings (an appointment from Walz) and worked with the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis on integrity matters.
“[O’Malley] will work across state government to strengthen fraud protection and protect taxpayer dollars,” Walz said, adding that O’Malley made clear he “does not work for me, he works for the people of Minnesota.” O’Malley said the governor privately assured him he would have “the freedom and autonomy to act to do whatever is necessary to solve this.”
“I’m not here to serve any individual, and I’m not here to serve a political party. I’m here to serve Minnesotans,” O’Malley said.
Walz said the program was developed with assistance from an outside forensics firm, WayPoint, led by forensic accountant and attorney Josiah Lamb. Lamb described work with the BCA to build an “anti-fraud toolkit” of policies and procedures to address fraud risks enterprise-wide. The state’s contract with WayPoint is valued at up to $200,000 and “will be spread across all the state agencies,” Walz said.
Walz acknowledged responsibility for the failures that allowed the Feeding Our Future fraud, saying Minnesota’s “generosity” was exploited by organized fraudsters and criminals and that his office “should have been keeping Minnesotans more up to speed on what was happening.” He said guardrails were loosened during the pandemic by federal guidance that prioritized moving money quickly to meet urgent needs, which he argued opened opportunities for fraud.
“We have and have just like in COVID, just like in every other situation, I take full responsibility for it,” he said, adding that he attempted in 2021 to freeze funding tied to a Feeding Our Future-related organization but was blocked by the courts. “I said, ‘Don’t pay them,’ and they said, ‘You can’t do that, you don’t have that authority.’ I said, ‘Do not pay them, let them sue me.’ They did and they won, and we paid them, and then they got caught and went to jail after the fact.”
The scandal — described by prosecutors as the nation’s largest COVID fraud scheme — has drawn heightened attention from the Trump administration and become a focal point for Republican critics of Walz. GOP gubernatorial candidate and state Rep. Kristin Robbins said the fraud prevention program “should be his resignation.” Republican state Sen. Jordan Rasmusson criticized creating a statewide director of program integrity as unnecessary if agency commissioners were doing their jobs.
Walz defended his broader pandemic policies, saying he “will not apologize for making Minnesota one of the safest states during COVID,” despite lawsuits challenging measures such as mask mandates.
Federal prosecutors have linked the Feeding Our Future case to broader fraud in Minnesota, with Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson saying fraud tied to Housing Stabilization Services and autism services has “stolen billions of dollars” in taxpayer money. Walz recently announced new audits of up to 14 social programs deemed high-risk; the state Department of Human Services inspector general is reviewing more than 1,300 reported cases and has recovered roughly $50 million so far.
The case has also injected racial and immigration tensions into the debate. Dozens of defendants in Feeding Our Future are of Somali descent — though the alleged mastermind, Aimee Bock, is White — and more than 61 people have been convicted so far, with additional charges pending. President Trump has characterized Minnesota as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and suggested connections to the Somali community; the Treasury has examined whether stolen funds were funneled to the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabaab. The Department of Homeland Security recently deployed federal agents to the Twin Cities as part of “Operation Metro Surge,” and the Trump administration has moved to reexamine some green card holders from Somalia and other countries.
Walz called the president’s targeting of Somali Minnesotans “racially motivated” and “unconscionable,” praising GOP state Sen. Jim Abeler for publicly rebuking Trump’s comments.
Newly released trial exhibits in the Feeding Our Future prosecutions provide a detailed look at how fraud proceeds were spent: luxury vacations, over-water villas in the Maldives, gold jewelry in Dubai, first-class airline tickets, high-end cars, lakefront properties and overseas transfers. U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the scale of the fraud is “massive” and that the predominant motive among defendants was self-enrichment and self-indulgence.
There is also evidence of money transfers overseas, including to China.
This story will be updated.
Ubah Ali, Jason Rantala, Joe Walsh and Conor Wight contributed to this report.