Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was caught on tape in a jaw-dropping meeting with individuals tied to a massive $250 million fraud scheme, just weeks before the FBI swooped in.
This story centers on a December 2021 gathering where Ellison met with people linked to Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit accused of siphoning federal child nutrition funds during the pandemic, raising serious questions about his awareness and actions as the state’s top legal officer, as the Washington Free Beacon reports.
Let’s rewind to 2020, when Feeding Our Future, a small nonprofit acting as a sponsor for community meal sites, sued the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) for delays in approving federal food funds.
Ellison’s office, representing MDE in that lawsuit, noted “very concerning” reports of funds possibly being misused for meals never served, though no formal fraud claims were made at the time.
By April 2021, MDE escalated concerns to the FBI, though with scant evidence, forcing federal agents to build the case from the ground up.
Fast forward to June 2021, when a state judge found MDE in contempt, ordering faster processing of Feeding Our Future’s applications -- a ruling that seemingly intensified scrutiny, as the federal probe ramped up by August.
Then comes December 2021, when Ellison sat down with a group including at least two future defendants in the fraud case, as revealed by an audio recording published by the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative Minnesota think tank.
During this meeting, attendees griped about MDE’s treatment of Feeding Our Future, calling it unfair, while Ellison responded with, “Well, brother, let me just tell you this: Of course I'm here to help,” as captured in the audio.
One has to wonder -- help with what, exactly? While Ellison’s words sound supportive, they clash with the gravity of a scheme that would soon be exposed as a $250 million fraud involving federal child nutrition money meant for hungry kids.
Just nine days after this chummy chat, Ellison accepted $10,000 in campaign contributions from individuals connected to Feeding Our Future, a detail that doesn’t exactly scream “arm’s length.”
Attendees, including Ikram Mohamed and Salim Said -- later entangled in legal proceedings -- pushed for support of “elected officials that are interested in protecting communities of color,” as recorded in the audio. Nice sentiment, but was this a genuine plea or a veiled pitch for political favor?
Ellison didn’t launch his own investigation until February 2022, only after an FBI raid shut down Feeding Our Future’s operations, which begs the question: Why the delay when red flags were waving for months?
The federal hammer dropped hard, with 70 defendants charged, 44 already convicted or pleading guilty, including Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock and meeting attendee Salim Said, who was recently convicted on 21 counts.
Scores more await trial in this scandal, which primarily involved a group of mostly Somali immigrants accused of falsely claiming to serve thousands of meals daily to children during the pandemic. It's a heartbreaking betrayal of trust and taxpayer dollars.
While Ellison’s spokesman, Brian Evans, insists the AG “acted entirely appropriately” and that “nothing happened as a result of the meeting,” the audio paints a less reassuring picture of an official perhaps too eager to please. If nothing happened, why does this meeting feel like a shadow over his claims of working “side by side” with MDE to hold fraudsters accountable? Let’s hope Minnesota’s top cop can clear the air, because right now, this story smells like a policy misstep wrapped in good intentions.
