Under Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota has developed a national reputation for its failure to stop the large-scale welfare fraud that has occurred in the state. The topic has become such a big political issue that Walz was essentially ushered into an early retirement because of it.
The fraud saga includes the $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme as well as fraud in state-run, Medicaid-funded programs. Last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota estimated that fraud in those state-run programs could exceed $9 billion since 2018.
Both the discovery and prosecution of that fraud have come from federal, not state, entities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota has charged and convicted dozens of individuals in connection with the fraud; the overwhelming majority of whom are Somali.
However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office was recently decimated after the office’s top fraud prosecutor resigned in January alongside other federal prosecutors. Today, the Minnesota Star Tribune has reported that even more federal prosecutors have resigned.
This begs the question: Who is prosecuting the billions in fraud that is reportedly still out there?
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson resigned earlier this month
For years, a federal prosecutor named Joe Thompson had led the fraud prosecutions in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota. Thompson possessed an expert knowledge of how the fraud schemes worked, and he was the lead prosecutor in the Feeding Our Future cases.
When President Donald Trump took office in January of 2025, Joe Biden’s U.S. attorney in Minnesota resigned, and Thompson was named acting U.S. attorney. During his tenure as acting U.S. attorney, Thompson kept the focus on prosecuting fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office continued to charge additional Feeding Our Future defendants and racked up convictions. Further, fraud uncovered in 14 state-run, Medicaid-funded programs quickly began to add to Thompson’s caseload of fraud prosecutions.
In September, Thompson began charging defendants in connection to alleged fraud in those 14 programs. One of those programs was outright shut down due to rampant fraud, and the other 13 were deemed “high-risk” by Minnesota’s state government.
In many ways, Minnesotans had become accustomed to hearing regular updates about new fraud charges, convictions, and schemes during Thompson’s tenure as acting U.S. attorney. However, Thompson would soon be replaced.
On Oct. 7, Daniel Rosen was confirmed as the new U.S. attorney for Minnesota. An eminent domain attorney with no prosecutorial experience, Rosen was nominated for the position by Trump and received the support of Rep. Tom Emmer, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and others.
Despite this, Thompson elected to stay with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was named first assistant U.S. attorney. In that role, he continued to charge fraud cases and announced in December that fraud in the 14 state-run programs could top $9 billion since 2018.
Thompson seemingly had his work cut out for him.
The revelation that more than $9 billion could have been stolen from state-run programs was shocking. The news quickly brought national attention to Minnesota’s widespread fraud problem and made the state’s already-tense political landscape even more contentious.
With such a large fraud sum before him, Thompson and other federal prosecutors seemed teed up for many more forthcoming fraud prosecutions. However, all that changed on Jan. 13 when Thompson and several other federal prosecutors resigned.
According to multiple media reports, the group of prosecutors resigned because of the federal government’s reported push to prosecute the wife of Renee Good, a woman who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
On Feb. 2, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that another group of federal prosecutors have resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
With Thompson out and the U.S. Attorney’s Office down several prosecutors, who is left to prosecute the apparent mountain of outstanding fraud cases?
Federal government offers few details on fraud prosecutions in Minnesota
Alpha News contacted the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, and U.S. Attorney Dan Rosen himself seeking clarification about the federal government’s ability to prosecute fraud cases in Minnesota given the resignations that occurred.
(Note: Alpha News reached out to the aforementioned entities before the most recent wave of resignations that was revealed on Feb. 2.)
Additionally, the group was asked what the people of Minnesota can expect when it comes to the prosecution of new fraud cases. However, only a Justice Department spokesperson responded to questions for this story.
“The Department of Justice is laser focused on rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse,” said a department spokesperson. “We have charged dozens of defendants from Minnesota who’ve defrauded the American people, and our whole of government approach to combating these issues will continue until all fraudsters are brought to justice.”
When pressed for further details about who is handling the fraud cases and whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota has received additional resources to help prosecute fraud, the Justice Department did not provide any further comment.
Earlier this month, CBS reported that the Pentagon is planning to send military attorneys to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota to assist with fraud prosecutions. CBS reported that the military attorneys’ assignment would begin in March.
When asked for further details about the military attorneys’ assignment, a U.S. Department of War official sent Alpha News a statement that provided few details about their reported mission in Minnesota.
“The Department of War is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement and Department of Justice partners. DOW Judge Advocates are assigned to assist the U.S. Attorney’s Office in their prosecutorial mission,” a department spokesperson said.
“As [special assistant U.S. attorneys], Department JAGs regularly provide crucial legal support nationwide and bring their unique skills and dedication of our America’s service members supporting our interagency partners as they deliver justice, restore order, and protect the American people,” added the spokesperson.
Alpha News also asked Rosen if the U.S. Attorney’s Office can provide any details about the military attorneys’ assignment in Minnesota. That question also went unanswered.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
