Minnesotans’ taxpayer funds were siphoned off to an al-Qaida-linked terror group al-Shabab through Somali-operated financial networks, Fox News reports.
The allegations emerged from a detailed inquiry by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo of the Manhattan Institute, whose review of state programs, federal records, and law-enforcement accounts pointed to a broad pattern of criminal activity tied to taxpayer-funded programs.
According to their findings, money intended for housing assistance, food aid, and treatment services was repeatedly diverted, with federal sources telling the researchers that millions of dollars were sent back to Somalia through informal money traders known as hawalas.
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Several federal officials familiar with counterterrorism operations said those remittances ended up in the hands of al-Shabab. One confidential source told the investigators told Fox, “The largest funder of al-Shabab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” while another former Joint Terrorism Task Force official said, “every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way.”
The scale of stolen funds became clearer after the failure of Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program. Originally projected at just a few million dollars, it ballooned to over 21 million dollars in its first year, later paying out 61 million dollars in six months. State officials shut the program down on August 1, citing dozens of providers with credible allegations of fraud. Weeks later, federal prosecutors announced charges against eight defendants, all identified as members of Minnesota’s Somali community.
Separate cases followed. By late September, the US Attorney’s Office reported that a 56th defendant had pleaded guilty in the Feeding Our Future investigation, with the number rising to 77 by November. Prosecutors said the group faked meal counts, doctored attendance lists, and created shell vendors while collecting hundreds of millions in federal nutrition funds. Investigators said the money went toward luxury homes and vehicles in the United States, Turkey, and Kenya.
Federal authorities also charged Asha Farhan Hassan in a 14-million-dollar autism therapy fraud, accusing her and others of recruiting families, arranging improper diagnoses, and paying cash kickbacks of up to 1,500 dollars per child.
US Attorney Joe Thompson said the cases reveal a broader problem, noting that “From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money.”
Minnesota Rep. Kristin Robbins shared the findings publicly, arguing that the state must determine whether its funds have supported terrorism. Governor Tim Walz’s office did not respond to requests for comment.