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Minnesota fraud: Nonprofit reaches $18.5M settlement
Minnesota nonprofit. Partners in Nutrition, has agreed to pay all of its remaining funds, $18.5 million, and dissolve as entity after it settled a civil lawsuit with the Minnesota Attorney General.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Attorney General's Office says nonprofit Partners in Nutrition (PIN) paid $18.5 million in a settlement after it was accused of fraudulently taking child nutrition funds for years.
Partners in Nutrition to pay millions
What we know:
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he filed a lawsuit and received an $18.5 million settlement from PIN.
The lawsuit says PIN defrauded millions of dollars from the state in federal child nutrition funds. Ellison claims that from October 2020 to February 2022, PIN repeatedly submitted false claims to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) for meals that were never served, which led to widespread fraud in the food distribution sites it was supposed to be monitoring.
PIN has agreed to pay $18,517,909.27, which is all the funds in the nonprofit's possession. PIN has also agreed to provide more documentation on its role as a food program sponsor, and they will dissolve as an entity.
If PIN does not follow the agreements, it could have to pay a civil penalty of $1 million.
What they're saying:
It’s a scheme that in many ways mirrored the massive Feeding our Future fraud scheme.
"The level of culpability of people in Feeding our Future was widespread," Ellison told FOX 9. "Now, within Partners in Nutrition, clearly there were people who ignored red flags, turned a blind eye, and maybe some of that behavior warrants even greater scrutiny. But just the straight-up stealing that we saw in Feeding our Future in the executives of that organization, I think was clearly more widespread."
Ellison said he has referred at least one individual connected to PIN for criminal prosecution and said others could follow as the state’s investigation continues.
"There's got to be some answers and some accountability," Ellison added.
Read the full lawsuit below:
What we don't know:
It is not known if PIN will be prosecuted criminally, as the Attorney General's Office only had civil legal authority over federal child nutrition fraud. The federal government or county attorney have the authority to prosecute the nonprofit criminally.
The Source: A press release from the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.