00:00There is a lot going on in the Minnesota fraud saga this week. The Department of Justice announced
00:04fresh charges against 15 people who they say swindled taxpayers out of 90 million bucks in
00:10a variety of cons, including, quote, the largest autism fraud scheme ever. Here's Assistant Attorney
00:17General Colin McDonald outlining one that is as heartbreaking as it is brazen. One defendant is
00:23charged with defrauding the Integrated Community Supports Medicaid program. This program is designed
00:29to help individuals with disabilities live independently. One patient was supposed to be
00:35receiving 24-hour care through this program, but he was actually being serviced by a fraudster
00:41and received no services. This patient was later found dead. Oh, but that's not all when it comes
00:49to fraud in Minnesota. Amy Bach, the woman at the center of the Feeding Our Future scam, the one that
00:54was supposed to give food to the less fortunate but instead bilked taxpayers out of millions,
00:58was slapped with a 41-year prison sentence this week after prosecutors successfully argued her scam
01:05took food out of the mouths of hungry children. And rounding out the trifecta of miniscama fraud
01:11stories today, there's the daycare scam focused on the notorious Quality Learning Center that actually
01:16misspelled learning on its sign. Remember that one? Well, the facility, which shuttered in January,
01:21had garnered some $1.9 million from Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program last year and $10 million
01:27in state funding since 2019. But it now seems the fine people at Quality Leering, yeah, that's how
01:33they spelled it, also got federal assistance from the Small Business Administration during President
01:38Trump's first term. Senator Joni Ernst is leading the charge to see how those federal funds, which were
01:44earmarked to pay salaries, rent, and other expenses during the COVID-19 shutdown, were actually spent.
01:49I know I am not alone here in wondering, what is going on in the land of 10,000 lakes?
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