LOEFFLER: Vast network of Somali nonprofits ripped off Minnesota’s welfare state

SBA investigation uncovers $430 million in fraudulent COVID-19 loans across Minnesota, citing systematic abuse of pandemic relief programs by criminal networks.

In a matter of weeks, we uncovered a staggering 13,600 PPP loans that were flagged for fraud but later approved, totaling about $430 million in potentially fraudulent funds that should have been used to save Main Street jobs and businesses. Kelly Loeffler is the 28th administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. She is an entrepreneur, executive, philanthropist and former U.S. senator from Georgia.

Thanks to lax oversight under Democrat Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, organized crime crept in and then brazenly flourished.  Even when dozens of whistleblowers repeatedly raised concerns to state oversight bodies and to his own office, Walz simply blamed racism and shrugged off the allegations.  

The governor recently defended the state’s "generosity" which allowed Somali fraudsters to purchase luxury cars, homes and vacations at the expense of hungry Minnesotans. Its welfare state is widely considered a magnet for those seeking to become beneficiaries. Alarmingly, welfare is now the state’s single-largest annual expenditure — higher than education, highways and public safety.