Senator Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) released the following statement on the mostly guilty verdicts for the first seven defendants in the Feeding our Future case:  

“While these verdicts begin the process of delivering some justice, we still must address the glaring incompetence of Governor Walz’s administration. They allowed these criminals to exploit hungry children and steal $250 million from Minnesota taxpayers to line their own pockets. This isn’t just unacceptable; it’s an outrage. 

“The Walz administration’s complete lack of oversight and failure to act swiftly enabled this massive fraud. Governor Walz must provide full transparency and take responsibility for these failures. We need to know what state officials knew, when they knew it, and why they didn’t stop this sooner. Complete transparency and accountability are the only way to prevent this egregious fraud from ever happening again.” 

Five defendants received guilty convictions on most of the charges brought against them by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Two defendants were acquitted. Seventy people have been similarly charged in what is likely the largest COVID-related fraud in the nation.