Tipsheet

Minnesota Attorney General Ellison Storms Off When Asked About Minnesota's Billions in Fraud

Scott McClallen
Scott McClallen  |  June 21, 2026 2:00 PM

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison stormed off when asked about the billions of dollars in fraud that have recently occurred in Minnesota. 

“If you ask the newspapers for a forensic accounting, the number you mentioned is tightly with people of a very unique political persuasion aligned with the Trump administration. So I’m done talking to you.” 

Criminals have abused Minnesota’s social programs to steal billions of taxpayer dollars, but Ellison doesn’t want to talk about it. Several outlets and reporters have estimated that Minnesota’s fraud total has ballooned to about $8 billion. 

Under Ellison’s watch, criminals stole about $250 million through a program meant to feed hungry kids. A group of criminals abused the relaxed rules because of COVID-19 to steal money from the Federal Child Nutrition Program. 

In total, Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 sites throughout Minnesota between March 2020 and January 2022 and falsely claimed to have served 125 million meals.

In May, the ringleader was sentenced to 500 months in prison. 

Minnesota allegedly paid up to $9 billion in fraud across 14 social programs that were meant to feed children, help autistic kids, and help families find housing and childcare. 

In February, Vice President J.D. Vance announced that the federal government would freeze $259 million of Medicaid funding in Minnesota until the state complies with a fraud investigation. 

Last week, Townhall reported that over 7,700 suspected “ghost students” have pocketed taxpayer funds for college and then never showed up to class. 

Minnesota has been one of many blue states that have fought the Trump administration's crackdown on fraud. While many red states have shared data about their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients, dozens of blue states have sued to hide the data. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said that the federal government has arrested nearly a thousand people for stealing from the SNAP program.