Minnesota Whistleblowers Accuse Gov. Walz Of Hiding Somali Fraud

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing a mounting political crisis after nearly 500 state employees accused him of ignoring — and actively burying — repeated warnings about widespread fraud inside state aid programs serving the Somali community. The allegations, leveled by workers inside the Minnesota Department of Human Services, point to years of internal distress signals that they say Walz not only dismissed, but punished.

For several years, the employees have operated an anonymous X account to document what they describe as systemic corruption and abuse of public funds. Their latest posts renew what they call an entrenched pattern of indifference and retaliation from the governor’s office.

“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota,” the group wrote on November 29, pointing to a recent New York Times report detailing Somali-linked financial crimes. “We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got the opposite response.

“Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports,” they continued. “Instead of partnership, we got the full weight of retaliation by Tim Walz, certain DFL members, and an indifferent mainstream media. It’s scary, isolating, and left us wondering who we can turn to.”

The whistleblowers further claim Walz “disempowered the Office of the Legislative Auditor” and “attacked whistleblowers who were trying to raise red flags on fraudulent activities,” accusing him of creating conditions where fraud could thrive unchecked.

These accusations now carry national implications. Scrutiny of Walz intensified after reports emerged that some Minnesota aid dollars may have been funneled to al-Shabaab, the East African terrorist organization, as first highlighted by Breitbart News.

Federal investigators are now tracing the flow of state funds after evidence suggested certain Somali migrants used Minnesota’s welfare programs to unlawfully send millions overseas. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed Monday that his department is probing whether state money was redirected to terrorism networks.

“At my direction, @USTreasury is investigating allegations that under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab. Thanks to the leadership of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, we are acting fast to ensure Americans’ taxes are not funding acts of global terror. We will share our findings as our investigation continues,” Bessent wrote on X.

The concerns extend well beyond one agency. Minnesota has been engulfed in one of the largest public-assistance fraud scandals in U.S. history — the Feeding Our Future case — in which federal prosecutors accuse a Minneapolis nonprofit, staffed heavily by Somali community members, of stealing roughly $250 million in taxpayer dollars meant to feed children.

Additional investigations uncovered tens of millions in alleged fraud involving autism treatment programs, as well as more than $550 million in losses tied to the state’s coronavirus relief spending.

A second massive Feeding Our Future–related case alleges another $250 million theft from pandemic-era child nutrition funds, making Minnesota’s welfare oversight failures some of the most expansive in decades.

The DHS whistleblowers did not mince words about Walz’s leadership.

“Fundamentally, Tim Walz is dishonest, lacks ethics and integrity, has poor leadership abilities, and has never taken any accountability for his role in fraud. Instead, Tim Walz deflects by blaming national politics for his own failings and distracts the public with inveterate lying,” they said.

The governor’s office has not yet responded to the renewed accusations.