Unfortunately, for good, law-abiding citizens of Minnesota, the thing their state is most notable for these days is fraud. Many of the fraudsters are Somali immigrants, who seem to have had no other reason to come to the U.S. than to game the system. Those outrageous instances of fraud continue to be uncovered, but a new audit is revealing that Minneapolis has a much longer history of fraud.

What many Americans may have suspected all along: The death of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent violence surrounding it were ripe for fraud. As demands to defund and abolish the police were heard throughout the city, the Neighborhood Safety Contract Management Report revealed that more than 100 contracts that were given to community groups in the days following Floyd's death and billed as "alternatives to policing" had little oversight and were prone to fraud and favoritism.

The audit reviewed spending in Minneapolis from 2020 to 2025 and found the city was "not providing sufficient contract oversight or managing contracts effectively." More than $36 million has been spent on five violence prevention programs since 2023. While Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sobbed in front of Floyd's golden casket, it seems as though the same playbook used in many of the now-known Somali fraud cases was being perfected on Floyd activism. Contractors were submitting invoices that lacked any supporting documentation while the city continued to make payments. There was also no organized process to make site visits to contractors, or to ensure that contracted services were even being performed.

Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, is the author of this audit and worked on the same topic several years ago. Back in 2023, Glahn found that the city had committed $7.5 million to the violence interrupter program for 2022-2023, and another $13 million for 2024-2028. However, there was no evidence that the program was reducing any crime.

Glahn also examined the backgrounds and finances of organizations that participated in the program. It's about what you would expect. Several of the participants had annual revenues or staffing well below the grants they received. One group, ironically called "We Push for Peace," had members who were involved in violence outside St. Paul grocery stores in 2021, and another was seen on video beating a homeless man. In May, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the group, alleging they had misused roughly $6.5 million on high-end vehicles and trips to Las Vegas. 

Recommended
Watch: Kevin Reddington Goes Berserk in Court After Prosecutors Move to Gag Him Teri Christoph 'Do You Believe in The Tooth Fairy?' Sen. Kennedy Nails Jack Smith to the Wall in Stunning Exchange Kyle Becker

Bill Glahn said of the audit:

"The city seems primarily interested in shoveling money out the door to ‘address’ urgent problems. Little if any care is given to ensuring that the grant recipients are capable of or have a track record of doing the work, are actually doing the work contracted for, or whether that work is resulting in net benefit for city residents and taxpayers."

One social media user summed it up nicely, calling it "the same business model" seen in many cases of Somali fraud. Will Minnesotans finally be fed up with that business as usual and the criminals who run their state and make a change in November?