Minnesota Social-Services Fraud Crackdown

The USDA has suspended just over $129 million in active and future federal award payments to Minnesota and Minneapolis amid a wide‑ranging fraud investigation, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a Jan. 9 letter to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey that demands justification for all USDA‑related spending since Jan. 20 and requires case‑by‑case payment approvals going forward. The suspension is tied by officials to alleged fraud in programs including Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services and daycare claims and comes as federal prosecutors are being sent to assist the probe; state officials say the $129 million figure appears to exclude SNAP and school‑lunch funds and has already created uncertainty for other programs, while Minnesota’s attorney general has vowed to fight the move in court.