RELEASE: House Fraud Committee responds to Walz Administration’s new fraud “fact check” website
Saint Paul, MN – Today, the Walz Administration released a website titled “Truth before rhetoric… The place for Minnesotans to find accurate information about our fight against fraud.” Despite branding itself as a fact-checking resource, the website is full of misleading information and half-truths that are being used to downplay the scale of fraud in Minnesota.
For example, the website cites the Star Tribune’s watered-down estimate of just $25.65 million in alleged Medicaid fraud since 2022 despite the lead prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, who had been investigating these crimes for 7 years, stating the number is likely as high as $9 billion.
In just one example, the Housing Stabilization Services Program, which was shut down by the Walz Administration due to the overwhelming amount of fraud in the program, taxpayers lost over $100 million due to fraud or mismanagement over 4 years.
The website also claims Minnesota’s fraud problem is just as bad as that of other states, which was clearly refuted in December, 2024, by former U.S. Attorney under President Biden, Andy Luger, who stated:
“No other states have had the kinds of problems we’ve had with government fraud.”
The level of fraud in Minnesota has become so well-known that it attracted criminals from other states to steal from our taxpayers. Just this week, two individuals from Pennsylvania pleaded guilty in the highly publicized “fraud tourism” case. They specifically targeted Minnesota’s social services programs due to its “easy money.”
“This is another clear example of how the Walz Administration attempts to downplay and ignore the massive fraud they have enabled,” said Representative Kristin Robbins, Chair of the Fraud Committee. “There is ample of evidence of fraud – not only from the hearings in our Committee, but from years of reports from the Office of Legislative Auditor, credible whistleblowers, court documents and actual convictions. The scale of the fraud in Minnesota is unfathomable.”
“Whistleblowers are being intimidated, credible allegations of fraud are ignored, and taxpayers and vulnerable citizens are being harmed. This website only has one purpose – gaslighting Minnesotans into believing that fraud in Minnesota is not only negligible, but being handled appropriately by the Administration. Two claims that have been shown to be demonstrably false.”
###