Fed up with fraudsters bilking government programs, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday created a new state fraud investigations unit via executive order and proposed legislative measures aimed at stopping the theft of public funds.
The DFL governor’s actions come amid growing concerns about fraud in the state. The FBI raided two autism treatment centers last month as part of an investigation into “substantial evidence” of fraudulent Medicaid claims in Minnesota’s autism program. Federal investigators said the alleged autism program fraud overlapped with the massive Feeding Our Future scheme, in which $250 million was stolen during the pandemic from a federally funded meals program for children.
“These are not just financial crimes against the state and the taxpayers of Minnesota. These are crimes against children,” Walz said during a Friday morning news conference at the State Capitol. “What we’ve seen in Minnesota is, these crimes have basically targeted programs that either feed children or help children in need.”
“It’s simply unacceptable,” Walz added.
Walz’s new executive order creates a centralized investigations unit, housed within the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), to fight fraud in state programs. Fraud investigators from the Minnesota Department of Commerce will be transferred to the new unit.
“Combining the resources and expertise of both of these agencies ... will enhance the state’s ability to prevent, investigate and prosecute a broad array of crimes involving fraud,” said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans. “It will help stop those people who commit these crimes from continuing to hurt our communities.”
Republican legislative leaders, who’ve raised concerns about fraud in state programs for years, were cool to Walz’s actions. House Republican Leader Lisa Demuth, who’s poised to become speaker when the session starts, said “creating a fraud bureau overseen by the same administration that allowed over a billion dollars in fraud means today’s executive action is nothing but smoke and mirrors.”
“We need real change to crack down on fraud, and that starts with a process that is truly independent of the leadership that allowed fraud to run rampant over the last five years,” Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said in a statement. “House Republicans will be unveiling a comprehensive fraud package that treats this as the serious problem it is.”