Minnesota's Fraud Is Real. So Is Everyone Else's.

Statement

Source: Newsmax appearance + multiple Facebook posts
Date: April 2026

“The Minnesota fraud scandal is massive, disturbing, and fueled by your tax dollars. You paid for the waste.”

Langworthy has made multiple Newsmax appearances and Facebook posts characterizing Minnesota’s federal program fraud as uniquely massive and unlike fraud in other states.

What’s True

Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future case is the single largest documented COVID-era child nutrition fraud in the country. The facts are real:

• ~$250–$350 million in documented fraud in the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
• 79 defendants indicted; 63 convicted (including founder Aimee Bock, March 2025)
• The state’s Department of Education received at least 30 complaints about Feeding Our Future from 2018–2021 and failed to investigate them — a genuine state oversight failure
• Federal prosecutors have described it as “industrial-scale” fraud

This is documented, serious, and warranted federal prosecution.

What’s Missing

1. The Same Fraud Happened in Other States — Including Republican-Led Ones

The COVID-era federal waivers that enabled the Minnesota fraud applied nationally and uniformly. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (March 2020) gave USDA authority to suspend on-site monitoring in all 50 states, allow reimbursement before site approval, and eliminate meal on-site requirements. GAO had warned of the resulting fraud risk in 2019 testimony — before the waivers were even issued.

CACFP and SFSP fraud predates Minnesota and has occurred in multiple states under Republican governors:

Langworthy has not made Newsmax appearances about any of these.

2. Arizona’s Scandal Is Six Times Larger

The Arizona Medicaid fraud — fake sober living homes targeting Native Americans seeking addiction treatment — was acknowledged by Arizona’s own Medicaid agency at up to $2.5 billion. Dozens of people died in fraudulent facilities. HHS called it “the largest fraud scheme to have targeted a single demographic group in recent U.S. history.” Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration received warnings and did not act. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, ProPublica, and NPR all covered it extensively.

Langworthy has made multiple Newsmax appearances about Minnesota. No comparable appearances about Arizona have been identified.

3. Mississippi’s TANF Scandal — His Party, His Silence

Mississippi’s welfare fraud scandal diverted at least $77 million in TANF funds — federal money for the state’s poorest families — to, among other things, a $5 million volleyball stadium connected to Brett Favre and over $1 million in payments to Favre for speeches he never gave. Former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant was a central figure. The Biden HHS demanded $101 million in repayment in December 2024. The Trump administration rescinded that penalty in April 2025. No public statement from Langworthy has been identified on either the fraud or the rescission.

4. Minnesota Was Better Than Most States on COVID Unemployment Fraud

Langworthy’s framing implies Minnesota has a uniquely corrupt state government. The unemployment insurance data contradicts this. Minnesota’s COVID-era unemployment fraud rate was less than 1% — among the lowest in the country. The national average was 11–15% (GAO). Republican-led states were worst: Kansas (25% fraudulent) and Louisiana (17% fraudulent).

5. The “$9 Billion” Figure Is Disputed

The figure Langworthy cites comes from former First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who stated that because $18 billion had been spent across 14 “high-risk” Medicaid programs, and “half or more” may be fraudulent, the fraud could reach $9 billion. This is:

• A back-of-envelope estimate (half of $18B in total spending), not an audited figure
• Explicitly disputed by Minnesota state officials, who note “there’s currently no evidence that fraud against the state’s Medicaid program is that rampant”
• Distinct from the $250–$350 million in documented and prosecuted Feeding Our Future fraud
• Minnesota’s own DHS published a formal fact-check page disputing inflated figures

6. The Structural Cause Is Federal Policy

The Minnesota Legislative Auditor found real failures by the state Department of Education. But the mechanism of the fraud — inflated meal counts submitted with no on-site verification — was made possible by federal USDA waivers that applied in all 50 states. The USDA OIG issued 143 recommendations across 12 audit reports on the Summer Food Service Program nationally. The GAO documented $1.8 billion in child nutrition improper payments in FY2018 — before COVID waivers eliminated monitoring entirely.

Personal care attendant fraud — the core pattern in Minnesota’s Medicaid cases — is the single largest category of Medicaid fraud convictions nationally, accounting for 43% of all Medicaid fraud convictions in FY2024 (HHS OIG Annual Report). It affects states of every political affiliation.

Summary

Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future fraud is real, documented, and the largest single COVID child nutrition fraud case in the country. The state’s oversight failures contributed to it. Prosecution was warranted.

What Langworthy omits: Arizona had a $2.5 billion Medicaid fraud under a Republican governor. Mississippi had a Republican-linked TANF scandal. Arkansas had fraud in the same CACFP/SFSP programs. The outrage he’s expressed is selective by party, not by scale or seriousness.

Sources

• DOJ: Federal Jury Finds Feeding Our Future Mastermind Guilty
• Minnesota Legislative Auditor: Oversight of Feeding Our Future (2024)
• ProPublica: Dozens Died in Arizona Sober Living Homes
• NPR: Benefits Fraud Is Long-Standing in Both Blue and Red States
• Star Tribune: Is Minnesota’s Medicaid Fraud an Outlier? Experts Say Complicated
• DOJ Northern District of Texas: Man Sentenced for Conning Summer Food Service Program Out of $2.3 Million
• Wikipedia: Mississippi Welfare Funds Scandal
• GAO: Unemployment Insurance Fraud — $100–$135 Billion nationally
• HHS OIG: Medicaid Fraud Control Units Annual Report FY2024
• Minnesota Reformer: U.S. Attorney — Fraud Likely Exceeds $9 Billion
• CBS Minnesota: MN DHS disputes $9B figure

Last updated: April 30, 2026