By Gabe WhisnantShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the department has opened an investigation into allegations that Minnesota tax dollars were improperly diverted to the terrorist group al-Shabab during the Biden administration and under Gov. Tim Walz.
In a post on X, Bessent said the probe was launched at President Donald Trump’s direction and pledged swift action to ensure taxpayer funds are not used to support terrorism. He said the Treasury Department will release additional information as the investigation develops.
...The allegations stem from a new report by City Journal, a public policy magazine and website, published by the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, asserting that large-scale fraud in several Minnesota social-service programs enabled millions of dollars in public funds to be moved overseas, where some of the money allegedly reached al-Shabab.
Researchers with the Manhattan Institute said their review uncovered extensive abuse within the state’s housing stabilization system, the Feeding Our Future network and related nonprofits, with federal counterterrorism officials telling investigators that stolen funds were funneled through informal money-transfer networks operating between Minnesota and Somalia.
Federal prosecutors have already brought dozens of criminal cases tied to these schemes, accusing defendants of creating shell companies, inflating service claims and exploiting vulnerable Minnesotans to siphon off public money. State officials have shut down programs associated with the alleged fraud, while investigators say the scope of the schemes amounts to one of the largest thefts of public funds in Minnesota’s history.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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