Republican Senators Steve Drazkowski (Mazeppa) and Mark Koran (North Branch) released the following statement on the 10 additional indictments in the Feeding our Future fraud scheme:  

“While announcing these new charges U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said, ‘the song is the same,’ but until we see wholesale change at our state agencies to not just report suspected fraud, to but actively prevent it, this will be ‘the song that never ends.’    

“The ease with which this fraud was conducted is a direct result of the lax oversight by Walz Administration and officials who for too long have focused on providing as much as possible rather than providing the right amount to the right people. In reality, the Walz Administration failed to report this fraud, as required by law. The connections the indicted individuals have with other government programs must be thoroughly explored for additional fraud schemes and every agency should report what they are doing to prevent fraud to the legislature.    

“We need more transparency out of our agencies. While accountability is good, prevention should be the goal. We are putting together a funding request to broaden and fully support the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s investigation so we can learn how to stop this fraud from happening ever again.”   

Luger did not provide an additional dollar amount on the new indictments but indicated it was now more than $250 million from 60 individuals. He also indicated there could be more indictments in the future.