After a recent viral video claimed Somali-run daycares in Minnesota were committing fraud, Trump officials quickly pointed to ongoing prosecutions over such allegations, and credited the administration.
Responding to the video from conservative influencer Nick Shirley, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in late December that the Justice Department “has been investigating this for months. So far, we have charged 98 individuals — 85 of Somali descent — and more than 60 have been found guilty in court.”
In the Dec. 29 thread, Bondi praised the work of Trump administration appointees like Daniel Rosen, who was sworn in as the U.S. attorney in Minnesota in October. She said other agency leads “continue unraveling this scheme.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has recently mentioned a similar number of fraud prosecutions in the state, while President Donald Trump has framed the case as “a new thing in Minnesota with the Somalians.”
But this isn’t new. The initial investigation dates back years, not months, and the bulk of the resulting charges were brought before Trump took office.
The administration’s narrative distorts that timeline, and misleads on some of the facts.
Trump and administration officials have ramped up rhetoric about fraud in the blue state of Minnesota since November, following a report from a conservative activist that said Somalis stole the money to use it for terrorism. The years-old claim lacks evidence.
The majority of the defendants in these fraud scandals are Somalis. Trump has cited the fraud schemes to support his immigration enforcement agenda, even though most Minnesota Somalis are U.S. citizens.
Amid this drumbeat, Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee who has faced criticism over massive fraud that happened on his watch, announced Jan. 5 that he will not seek a third term.
FBI launched investigation in 2021 leading to dozens of charges in 2022
Feeding Our Future was a Minnesota nonprofit that received federal funding to provide meals to low-income children.
The FBI started investigating the program in May 2021, according to a state legislative auditor report.
In September 2022, federal prosecutors announced charges against 47 people, saying they stole $250 million in federal money and spent it on international vacations, real estate, jewelry and luxury cars.
They charged more people in 2023 and 2024. In June 2024, five people were indicted in a related juror bribery scheme. Before Biden left office, Andrew Luger, his U.S. attorney in Minnesota, said 70 people had been charged in the Feeding Our Future case.
The case continued under Trump. Federal prosecutors charged eight defendants in 2025, bringing the total to 78.
Other fraud cases followed
The Trump administration has brought charges against people in additional schemes tied to the earlier investigation.
Prosecutors during Trump’s current term charged 13 defendants for misusing Medicaid money to help people with disabilities, mental illnesses and substance use disorders secure housing. They also charged two defendants in a program to provide services for people with autism spectrum disorder.
“What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said.
At a news conference announcing initial charges in the housing cases, Thompson said that most of the health care fraud investigations grew from the Feeding Our Future investigations. “We just went down that rabbit hole of looking at bank records and looking to these individual companies,” he said.
Thompson also referenced the Feeding Our Future and housing charges when he later spoke about the autism investigation.
“This is not an isolated scheme,” Thompson said. “Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network.”
Fact-checking DOJ’s evidence
We asked the Justice Department why Bondi said the agency has been investigating for “months” when the majority of charges stem from an investigation that launched before Trump’s second term began.
A DOJ spokesperson said that a charge is only the beginning of the prosecution and that more people have pleaded guilty during the Trump administration than the Biden administration. As of October 2024, 23 had pleaded guilty.
Bondi noted developments during her tenure, writing on X, “In August, we successfully secured the conviction of the Feeding Our Future scheme leader, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah.” Farah was convicted at trial in 2024; he was sentenced in August.
In massive fraud investigations, much of law enforcement’s heavy lifting happens before charges are filed as authorities obtain and vet hundreds of thousands of pages of records.
“The investigative part is the most time consuming and sometimes extremely time consuming,” said Joel DeFabio, a South Florida criminal defense attorney who has represented fraud clients.
Bondi said that more than 60 had been found guilty in court, including 57 convicted in Feeding Our Future.
It’s typical for most federal charges to lead to convictions, usually as a result of plea deals because defendants want to reduce prison sentences. Their cooperation can lead to charges against additional defendants.
“There is a saying in federal court: those who cooperated and those who wish they cooperated,” DeFabio said. “You get highly rewarded at sentencing if you cooperated.”
Most of the Feeding Our Future defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted; some went to trial in 2024 and 2025.
Our ruling
Bondi said the Justice Department has been investigating fraud in Minnesota “for months. So far, we have charged 98 individuals.”
Bondi omits context about when the bulk of the charges happened.
Law enforcement and prosecutors in Minnesota have investigated this major fraud for years, starting in 2021. By mid-January 2025, before Trump took office, 70 had been charged in the Feeding Our Future case in addition to five for the related juror bribery scheme. That means about 75% of defendants charged so far predated Trump.
The Trump administration prosecutors have continued the investigation. Late in 2025, the number of Feeding Our Future defendants grew to 78, and prosecutors charged 15 in other related schemes.
We rate this statement Half True.
PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.
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This story originally appeared on PolitiFact
