Oversight chair James Comer fires off letters to Gov. Tim Walz, AG Keith Ellison about MN fraud — and potential evidence destruction

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) fired off letters Wednesday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his Attorney General Keith Ellison as part of an investigation first reported by The Post into “widespread fraud” in state social services programs.

“The Committee has serious concerns about how you as the Governor, and the Democrat-controlled administration, allowed millions of dollars to be stolen,” Comer wrote to Walz in one of the Dec. 3 letters.

“The Committee also has concerns that you and your administration were fully aware of this fraud and chose not to act for fear of political retaliation,” added the powerful Republican chairman.

“The Committee therefore requests documents and communications showing what your administration knew about this fraud and whether you took action to limit or halt the investigation into this widespread fraud.”

In his letter the same day to Ellison, Comer charged that the Minnesota AG had been “caught on tape pledging to help Feeding Our Future fraudsters in a conversation that also included discussion of campaign donations from Somali community leaders to secure your donor base and, only days later you and your son accepted contributions to your campaigns from the individuals in this meeting.”

“Based on these reports, the Committee is concerned that you were negligent in handling taxpayer dollars that were ultimately stolen and had systems in place that allowed the funds to be funneled to terrorist networks responsible for killing Americans,” he also said.

“Whistleblowers have indicated that DHS employees are destroying evidence. The Committee expects that you will take all steps to preserve evidence during this investigation,.

By Dec. 17, Comer has asked for records from Jan. 1, 2019, to the present from Minnesota’s Department of Human Services, the governor and lieutenant governor’s offices related to up to $ 1 billion in potentially fraudulent funding that flowed from taxpayers’ pockets through state agencies to food aid nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Feeding Our Future scammed taxpayers out of more than $240 million between 2020 and 2022 — before an FBI raid on its Minneapolis office led to prosecutions of dozens of its employees.

The purported nonprofit workers, many of whom had ties to the Somali community in the Twin Cities, splurged the taxpayer funding on luxury real estate properties and lavish cars, among other spoils.

Other entities targeted by the Oversight Committee include Safari Restaurant, Empire Cuisine and Market LLC, S & S Catering Inc., Haji’s Kitchen LLC, Community Enhancement Services Inc., and Brava Restaurant & Café LLC; entities with ties to Minnesota’s Housing Stability Services Program such as Brilliant Minds Services LLC, Faladcare Inc., Leo Human Services LLC, and Liberty Plus LLC; and information on the EIDBI Autism Program, specifically the entity Smart Therapy LLC and the individual Asha Farhan Hassan.

The chairman’s letter highlighted that housing stabilization program also allegedly bilked taxpayers out of more than $104 million due to fraudulent claims of homelessness — and autism treatment services also had $14 million in state funds allegedly stolen.

Comer put in a blanket request for records covering a more than 10-year span at the Minnesota Department of Commerce flagging instances of fraud.