JONAH KAPLAN:
00:00:24
A honeymoon in the Maldives, a fleet of luxury cars. Here's a box with more than $270,000 in cash. This was all evidence from a new trove of files, obtained exclusively by CBS News, showing how a group of convicted Minnesota fraudsters spent taxpayer dollars. One text message reads, you are going to be the richest 25-year-old. We're not even at the end of the beginning of our pursuit of the stolen money and of the people who stole it.
JONAH KAPLAN:
00:00:55
US Attorney Daniel Rosen leads the office digging into the wave of COVID-era fraud that hit Minnesota. So how much money are we talking about stolen? I can say, with great comfort, well in excess of a billion dollars.
JONAH KAPLAN:
00:01:09
In the past three years, 87 defendants have been charged, 61 convicted. The majority of them are Somali American. Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali population. The perpetrators are accused of ripping off state-run programs intended to feed low-income kids, house the disabled, and provide services to autistic children. This was a get-rich scheme.
JONAH KAPLAN:
00:01:32
Andy Luger was the US attorney who first examined this fraud. He left in January. One of the things we discovered is that a number of the people involved were buying investment property, resort property in Kenya.
JONAH KAPLAN:
00:01:45
Wire transfers reviewed by CBS News also show more than $1 million went to Chinese banks. It goes behind a black curtain, and it's hard to see where things went beyond that.
JONAH KAPLAN:
00:01:54
The Trump administration has said it's investigating whether any of the money fell into the hands of terror groups like Al-Shabaab in Somalia. But both Luger and Rosen agree the evidence so far shows the criminals were only interested in getting rich. There was never anything that indicated that this was linked to terrorism.
JONAH KAPLAN:
00:02:13
Somali leaders worry the community is being held collectively responsible, and this week, there have been ongoing immigration raids. For CBSMornings, I'm Jonah Kaplan.
