Feeding Our Future's nothing-but-profit business model

Thus far, I've focused most of my attention on the various types of Medicaid fraud that the feds have investigated, then prosecuted. I haven't paid as much attention to the Feeding Our Future scam. Notice that I didn't say "alleged scam.' That's because this article reports that "The scandal, which has already led to 61 convictions, has widely been viewed as a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic. At one point, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland called it 'the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme' in the United States."

Convictions aren't theories, suppositions or allegations. Convictions are a finding of fact. That takes statements out of the realm of allegedly, then transfers them into the realm of 'proven beyond a reasonable doubt.' While I'm not a legal eagle, I know enough to know that findings of facts are more important than allegations, theories or suppositions.

Aimee Bock was found to be the ringleader of the Feeding Our Future scam. Bock was aggressively cross-examined by prosecutors:

Then she was convicted:

It's important to learn the full truth. For instance, "state officials say the schemes aimed at diverting federal dollars meant for people who are poor, food insecure or disabled, actually started far sooner, months after Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz took office in 2019. In its early stages, members of the charitable group Feeding Our Future billed the state for some $3.4 million."

This is stunning:

By 2021, however, that number ballooned. Before it was finally halted, Feeding Our Future had falsely claimed to have served 91 million meals, for which the group received nearly $250 million in federal funds, according to federal prosecutors. That money did not go to feed kids, federal officials said. Instead it was used to fund lavish lifestyles.

No meals, or very few meals, got served because few kids were enrolled. With few meals to buy and distribute to hungry children, the money "was used to fund lavish lifestyles." This business model was based on the theory that virtually every dollar received from the federal government was pure profit. Aimee Bock didn't need to set aside any reserves. All she and her fellow grifters needed to do was cash their checks and live lavishly. How difficult is that? If you do nothing else this morning, watch this Hugh Hewitt interview of Powerlineblog's Scott Johnson:

This report verifies a report I heard from a legislator 3+ weeks ago:

I'm getting annoyed with reporters describing this fiasco as being about $1,000,000,000 or thereabouts. Joe Thompson put that figure much higher, $8,000,000,000+, in a briefing to a state legislator. Think about tihs: these programs have virtually no controls on them. The amount of money dumped into this program is virtually limitless. One official said it was like kids raiding a cookie jar that kept getting refilled.

Minnesota's culture of fraud

It isn't likely to change without a different governor, this time from the GOP. The DFL doesn't have an incentive to reform itself. To the DFL on this fiasco, it wants to metasticize the fraud. The DFL relies on the Somali vote to win statewide.