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The Small Business Administration is investigating a network of Somali groups in Minnesota that it says is tied to a massive COVID fraud scandal highlighting alleged systemic failures by Gov. Tim Walz’s team to properly audit public funds.
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has become embroiled in a scandal that has already led to charges against dozens of people – mostly Somali – and prompted allegations from civil servants in his administration who have spoken of retaliation against whistleblowers and institutional negligence.
“Numerous individuals and nonprofits indicted in the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scandal, including Feeding Our Future, received SBA PPP loans in addition to other state and federal funding,” Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced on X. “I have ordered an investigation into the network of Somali organizations and executives implicated in these schemes.”
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SBA Admin. Kelly Loeffler, left; Gov. Tim Walz, right. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
She added: “Despite Governor Walz’s best efforts to obstruct, SBA continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable, full stop.”
An SBA spokesperson confirmed the probe to Fox News Digital, saying the agency is “investigating all individuals and organizations indicted as part of the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scheme to identify any that may have also fraudulently obtained PPP loans – evaluating their citizenship status, the legitimacy of their nonprofit work, and other requirements for eligibility.”
“The agency will provide additional details as the scope of fraud across these Somali networks are uncovered – and remains committed to clawing back all funding that was illegally obtained on behalf of American taxpayers,” SBA spokesperson Maggie Clemmons said.
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President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Somali community in Minnesota was “garbage,” eliciting sharp responses from local officials including Minneapolis Councilman Jamal Osman – who claimed that “everyone knows that our president is racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic.”
Walz did not reply to a Fox News Digital request for comment about Loeffler’s announcement.
Previously, the governor said he would “welcome” a Treasury Department probe into whether his administration enabled millions of taxpayer dollars to reach Somali terror group Al Shabaab.
“If they want to help us, I welcome that,” Walz said. “Do an investigation, find out. But I don’t think anybody really believes their motive or timing is about actually doing something about this.”
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A separate report from City Journal, which also broke the Walz story, noted a 2015 study by a House Homeland Security Committee task force found more foreign-fighter terrorism-related travelers came from the Land of 10,000 Lakes than any other state.
Of those charged with seeking to join ISIS at the time, the outlet reported that they were “sophisticated users of social-welfare benefits.”
Two suspects had allegedly used federal financial aid to pay for their travel as they were preparing to depart Howard Beach, N.Y., for Syria.
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Minnesota, however, is far from the only state with PPP troubles.
Federal authorities in 2020 arrested a group of New York nail salon owners near JFK Airport in a scheme that allegedly combined smuggling Vietnamese immigrants for low-wage labor with misappropriating COVID-19 relief funds, according to the New York Post.
Dat Ho, Peter Nguyen and Victoria Ho were charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud after allegedly inflating payroll to secure $13 million in PPP loans, according to the New York Post.
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In May, an Iowa man – who was alleged to be a former Cuban military officer who entered the U.S. 20 years ago by crossing the border after a denied visa application – was arrested as a figurehead of an Iowa COVID-benefit fraud ring, according to an indictment statement from the Justice Department.
Yovany Ciero of Mason City was convicted on dozens of counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from a specified unlawful activity.
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Prosecutors said Ciero and co-schemers stole an estimated $2.4 million, which entailed more than 100 Cuban immigrants who obtained PPP loans under false pretenses as “self-employed businesspeople” while they worked at the same meatpacking plant.
Authorities say Ciero recruited people for the scheme, and then passed that information to others who submitted the fraudulent loan applications to the feds. He faces up to life imprisonment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.
