By Jackson Richman

The House Oversight Committee expanded its investigation into fraud in Minnesota on Dec. 22.

The committee has requested information from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as transcribed interviews with Minnesota state officials. Gov. Tim Walz is not one of the officials.

“Whistleblowers have made it clear that American taxpayers were defrauded in Minnesota, raising serious questions about whether Gov. Walz and Attorney General [Keith] Ellison failed to act or were complicit in the theft,” said the House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) in a statement.

“The House Oversight Committee is aggressively investigating widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs and the failures of Gov. Walz’s administration that allowed taxpayer funds to be funneled to terrorist networks responsible for the deaths of Americans.”

“While Gov. Walz and Attorney General Ellison turn a blind eye to taxpayer fraud, the House Oversight Committee is acting decisively and will use its full power to protect hardworking taxpayers,” he added.

The information requested by Jan. 9 includes suspicious activity reports relating to social service programs in general and allegations of financial ties to designated terrorist organizations.

It also consists of staff-level briefings by the Justice Department and the Treasury Department on their investigations into fraud in Minnesota.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Treasury Department for comment. The Justice Department confirmed it received the request from the committee but declined to comment further.

On Dec. 3, the Oversight Committee launched its investigation into fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs.

So far, the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota has brought felony charges against more than 90 people, most of whom are members of Minnesota’s Somali community, for defrauding Medicaid and Federal Child Nutrition Programs.

“These fraudsters falsely claimed to be distributing tens of millions of meals to low-income children, providing housing services to seniors and the disabled, and delivering medically-necessary services to children with autism, when in reality they were seemingly using stolen money to fund their lavish lifestyles,” said Comer in a Dec. 22 letter to Bondi.

“Troublingly, they also sent stolen money abroad, which has been alleged to have funded terrorist organizations.”

Comer sent letters requesting appearances for transcribed interviews from the following people: Assistant Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Education, Daron Korte; former Chief Financial Officer of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Dave Greeman; former Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Jodi Harpstead; and former Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner, Mary Cathryn Ricker.

Others include former Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey; Emily Honer, Director of Nutrition Program Services at the Minnesota Department of Education; and Eric Grumdahl, former Assistant Commissioner for Homelessness and Housing Supports at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education for comment on Korte and Honer. It also messaged Greeman, Harpstead, and Ricker for comment. A contact for Grumdahl could not be found. The Epoch Times reached out to Nemadji, where Lourey is CEO, for comment.