COVID fraudsters have struck again. According to the Department of Justice, 47 people have been arrested and charged in connection to a massive COVID-related $$$ scam involving a program in Minnesota that was actually meant to feed hungry children from low-income families. The program which is understood to be called Feeding our Futures had fraudulently enlisted the help of other ‘program sites in the area and in other surrounding areas though according to federal officials they weren’t actually feeding the kiddos.
The scam apparently involved a vast array of shell companies that exploited the federal nutrition program that was kickstarted at the beginning of the pandemic to help hungry kids. Congress has extended it a few times but it is the latest COVID-related program to fall prey to a scam.
View the formal DOJ announcement by clicking here.
“Feeding Our Future employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota,” the Justice Department said in a release. “These sites, created and operated by the defendants and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed.”
“This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions,” US Attorney Andrew M. Luger for the District of Minnesota said during the announcement of the indictments. “These defendants exploited a program designed to provide nutritious food to needy children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they prioritized their own greed, stealing more than a quarter of a billion dollars in federal funds to purchase luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad.”
“The company went from receiving and disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds to sites under its sponsorship in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021,” part of the indictment read. “In all, Feeding Our Future fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds during the Covid-19 pandemic,” it continued.
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