Now that the multi-billion-dollar frauds in Minnesota are national news, I thought it was time to revisit the document that represents the Rosetta Stone of the most prominent scandal, the one involving the food nonprofit Feeding Our Future.
Estimates of this single fraud against taxpayers range from $300 million to $500 million. Federal and state investigations of this nonprofit have spun off other cases involving other government programs. So far, 78 defendants have been indicted in the case, with 57 convicted.
While the fraud was still raging in April 2021, the St. Paul Pioneer Press (PP) printed an article under the headline,
Despite fraud concerns, MN won’t limit free summer meals for kids
It is the earliest news article I can find on what would eventually become the Feeding Our Future scandal. (PP would update the piece after the first set of indictments in the case in late 2022). All of the elements were there back in that prescient article. Call it the Ur-article.
The PP article begins,
Under pressure from anti-hunger advocates, the Minnesota Department of Education [MDE] has reversed course on who can serve free meals to kids this summer.
In the fifth and sixth paragraphs, the Pioneer Press quotes an MDE official,
Assistant Commissioner Daron Korte said Friday that the department wanted to “ensure the integrity of the program.”
There are a lot of nonprofits reporting large numbers of meals served, he said, which has created a fraud risk. During a pandemic, the department lacks “the ability as an organization to verify all of those meal claims,” he said.
“Fraud risk.” The Department knew all along. Paragraphs 9 and 10 mention Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minneapolis).
The Food Research and Action Center said in an email to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s office that Minnesota was the only state they were aware of that was going to limit summer meals in that way.
Omar did not take a position on the issue, a spokesman said.
Paragraph 11 mentions U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN),
Sen. Tina Smith’s staff met with the department last week to discuss meal service, but staff said they did not weigh in on whether nonprofits should serve meals this summer.
They knew, they all knew.
PP listed the following entities as being among the eight largest food distribution sites at the time,
Brava Cafe, $855,330 (sponsored by Feeding Our Future)
ASA Limited, $619,099 (Feeding Our Future)
Brava Restaurant, $618,399 (Feeding Our Future)
Youth Inventors Lab, $409,262 (Feeding Our Future)
Youth Leadership Academy, $365,413 (Feeding Our Future)
Addis Foundation, $332,822 (Partners in Nutrition)
Masjid As-Sunnah, $292,330 (Partners in Nutrition)
NAYSC – Dar Al Farooq, $285,571 (Feeding Our Future)
The first four sites on the PP list involve defendants who have been subsequently convicted in the case. No individuals associated with the last four locations have been charged with any wrongdoing.
The PP reported,
The Department of Education informed advocates on Monday that it will not restrict summer meal service, after all.
And now, here we are.
