Hennepin County, home of Minneapolis and the epicenter of America’s most infamous welfare-theft machine, just had to shut down a taxpayer slush fund created to “help” businesses allegedly hurt by Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
According to Fox News, the county received approximately 300 applications. More than 200 were flagged for potential fraud, while only 82 applicants were cleared and received roughly $500,000 in assistance.
Officials reportedly discovered applications containing identical, AI-generated language submitted on behalf of different businesses. County investigators also conducted site visits and found that some of the businesses listed on applications did not even exist.
Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde said the county eventually stopped processing applications after officials saw the number of legitimate claims decline.
Lunde said:
“Clearly, fraud and people who want to commit it are still very active, as they do not fear the penalty. Thanks to county staff and our partner, we were able [to] thwart these efforts by devoting more time and effort to tighter oversight, in-person inspections and increased scrutiny. As the fraudsters continue their efforts, we need to ramp up our game as well. This is the new normal for all levels of government in Minnesota.”
The county insists that no taxpayer money was lost to fraudulent applicants because the claims were caught during the review process. However, the scale of the attempted fraud forced officials to terminate the program.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office has been asked to review the applications for possible criminal charges. Lunde wants prosecutions and says the legislature may need to tighten the law so that attempting to loot a grant program is a real crime, not a paperwork inconvenience.
The leftover money, about $1.5 million, is being steered into “lower-risk” consulting, marketing help, and flexible financing. In other words, after the anti-ICE grant window became a magnet for scammers, the county is trying to hide the checkbook
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