Scott Bessent Says He Has A Way To Make Minnesota Fraudsters Turn On Each Other

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the federal government plans to use financial incentives to break open a sprawling Minnesota fraud scheme by encouraging insiders to inform on one another.

Bessent said Thursday that the government will recover stolen funds, prosecute those responsible for Minnesota’s social services fraud scheme, prevent future crimes, and expand probes to similar fraud in other states. Speaking with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle,” Bessent said he intends to offer payments to individuals who provide detailed information about how the fraud operated, including who participated, how the money moved, and when key decisions occurred.

“We know that these rats will turn on each other. We heard today that one of the people who has been convicted of fraud, she was given $200,000 to bribe a juror, and she was so corrupt, she skimmed $80,000 of it and only tried to give a $120,000 bribe,” Bessent said. “So we are going to offer whistleblower payments to anyone who wants to tell us who, what, when, where, and how this fraud has been done. And I think that that will give us a great report on how to get it done.”

In a Dec. 26 video, YouTuber Nick Shirley said he found 10 Minnesota child-care facilities operated by Somalis that showed little sign of operating despite receiving taxpayer money. After visiting the listed addresses, Shirley recorded vacant or closed locations. In a separate federal prosecution, authorities have accused more than 90 people — most with ties to Minnesota’s Somali community — of diverting over $9 billion from government social service programs.

From 2018 through 2021, those five operations drew close to $5 million through the program, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, with Minnesota Best Childcare Center alone collecting about $1.5 million. Another site, Sweet Angel Child Care in Minneapolis, listed a phone line identical to that used by the office of Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

State employees said in November that Walz held direct responsibility for allowing the misconduct to persist, accusing his administration of sidelining internal warnings and ignoring whistleblowers. As investigators peeled back the scheme, Democratic officials and state leaders publicly defended Somali residents, including Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who described the community as integral to the city, and Minnesota Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who appeared on Somali-language television in a hijab.