Federal authorities have charged 48 people in what they're calling the largest pandemic-related fraud scheme yet uncovered
, including bringing charges in more than 1,000 criminal cases involving losses in excess of $1.1 billion.
The defendants in Minnesota face multiple counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. Luger said some of them were arrested Tuesday morning. Authorities announced 47 indictments at the news conference; The Star Tribune and The New York Times reported charges against a 48th Tuesday evening. A U.S. attorney's spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a message.
But during the pandemic, some of the standard requirements for sites to participate in the federal food nutrition programs were waived. The USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate, and allowed food to be distributed outside educational programs. The charging documents say the defendants exploited such changes “to enrich themselves.”
One example described a small storefront restaurant in Willmar, in west-central Minnesota, that typically served only a few dozen people a day. Two defendants offered the owner $40,000 a month to use his restaurant, then billed the government for some 1.6 million meals through 11 months of 2021, according to one indictment.
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