FBI Director Kash Patel testified about 764’s activities during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in mid-September
WASHINGTON (TNND) — FBI Director Kash Patel threatened convicted Somali scammers allegedly involved in a multimillion-dollar fraud that was uncovered in Minnesota. Patel says the scammers involved are “just the tip of a very large iceberg.”
Patel said the FBI “surged personnel and investigative resources” to Minnesota to take down fraud schemes before they blew up online, according to a lengthy statement posted to social media. Many of the scammers involved in the fraud scheme were from the Somali community.
Somalians are the largest immigrant group in Minnesota.
“To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID,” Patel wrote online.
Patel also announced the names of the people involved in the case.
“Defendants included Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud, Ahmed Ali, Hussein Farah, Abdullahe Nur Jesow, Asha Farhan Hassan, Ousman Camara, and Abdirashid Bixi Dool, each charged for roles ranging from wire fraud to money laundering and conspiracy,” he said.
“The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing,” Patel wrote.
The announcement from the FBI director came after viral social media videos highlighted the fraud that involved Minnesota childcare and learning centers.
GOP lawmakers responded to the viral video, including Vice President JD Vance, slamming Gov. Tim Walz, accusing him of sitting “idly by while billions were stolen from hardworking Minnesotans,” according to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.
Gov. Walz addressed the alleged fraud in November during a press conference before the full scale was reported.
“If you’re committing fraud, no matter where you come from, what you look like, what you believe, you are going to go to jail,” he said.
