Dr. Oz Puts Tim Walz on Notice Over ‘Deep Rot’ of Minnesota’s Medicaid Fraud

Dr. Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has put Tim Walz on notice. Walz, who is so deeply embroiled in his state’s massive fraud scandal that he was forced to drop out of the Minnesota governor’s race this week, is also facing a criminal probe by the DOJ and a Congressional hearing next month.

“At CMS and HHS, we’re increasingly worried about the deep rot within Minnesota’s Medicaid and social services system, which are supposed to protect the most vulnerable Americans,” Dr. Oz said.

“The more we uncover, the more it becomes clear: it’s much worse than we were led to believe by state government officials. We’d previously learned that illegal immigrants were still getting care with allegedly state-only Medicaid programs that were actually using federal taxpayer funds,” Oz said. “And, because of that, we already withheld $1.3 billion from California, Illinois, and yes, Minnesota, which always seems to show up on the list of states with the worst fraud, waste, and abuse.”

“But this is only the tip of the iceberg,” Oz continued. “We have an unfortunate announcement for the Walz administration. They have to admit they were warned. Last month, we instructed the Walz administration to produce a corrective action plan by the end of the year, which we received late New Year’s Eve and found deeply insufficient.”

“We don’t want to hear, for example, that your state law doesn’t allow you to protect federal taxpayers from Somali fraud. And we want a sense of urgency to fix this, as well as clear milestones to hold Minnesota accountable on progress,” Oz said. 

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Keith Ellison Calls Massive Fraud ‘Not Serious’ After Audio of Him Helping Fraudsters Resurfaces

Back at the beginning of December, Townhall reported how Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was not only working to help Somali fraudsters keep access to funding, but that he allegedly received campaign donations for doing so. Here’s what American Experiment wrote about Ellison at the time:

Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s Attorney General, can clearly be heard pledging his support to individuals who would soon become his family’s campaign donors and later Feeding Our Future criminal defendants.

His recorded statements flatly contradict his contemporaneous public statements and raise uncomfortable questions about the intersection between political fundraising and constituent services.

American Experiment has exclusively obtained the complete 54-minute, 44-second audio file of a private December 2021 meeting between state Attorney General (AG) Keith Ellison and key figures in the Feeding Our Future scandal.

As I wrote last week, the audio file was named as Exhibit 710 on the evidence list presented to the court by Aimee Bock’s defense attorney, Kenneth Udoibok. The recording was not offered into evidence during the six-week trial that concluded last month, with Bock’s conviction on all seven counts she faced. A timeline of relevant events can be found here.

Now Fox News has picked up the story, and Ellison is not happy about it.

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Nick Shirley Drops Another Video, and It Will Blow Your Mind

Independent journalist Nick Shirley’s back at it, and his second Minnesota fraud video packs the same explosive punch as the first.

That original 42-minute bombshell ripped the lid off Somali-run daycares that are raking in millions from taxpayers while sitting empty, while the Walz administration did nothing to stop it.

The legacy media have been aggressively trying to discredit Shirley and his reporting, but he’s not backing down. In fact, he’s doubling down with fresh footage that makes his first video look like small beans. Last month, after his team dug up over $110 million in shady dealings in just one day, Tim Walz clearly felt the heat. The Democrat governor bailed on his reelection bid, and Shirley took a much-deserved victory lap.

Since then, the situation has gotten worse for Walz. As we previously reported, Minnesota’s legislative auditor dropped a bombshell report this week, revealing that. Walz’s Department of Human Services cooked the books, skipped controls, and blew oversight of $400 million-plus in grants. Employees faked documents to dodge audits.

I suspect this could shove Walz out the door for good—and potentially land him in cuffs.

Shirley’s new video dials things up to 11.

David Hoch, co-founder of Minnesotans for Responsible Government, joined him on the ground in Minneapolis, revealing an insane truth: this fraud hits hundreds of billions nationwide. Minnesota’s slice? At least $80 billion. Layers of shell companies obscure the cash trail, including 1,200 medical transport outfits in the area that do nothing while collecting taxpayer dollars.

Hoch swears by his evidence. “I have been to many of these transportation companies, and I’ve been time-stamping my photographs for a whole year at one facility in Minneapolis, and those vans in that parking lot had not moved one inch in an entire year. They’re all still sitting there.”

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Leftist Minneapolis Livestreamer Andrew Mercado Threatens Nick Shirley and Other Right-Wing Journalists, Says Their Security ‘Will Have to Earn Their Paycheck’

Leftist livestreamer and “citizen journalist” Andrew Mercado made direct threats against Nick Shirley, Cam Higby, and other right-wing journalists during his live broadcast in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Mercado is on the ground covering the escalating tension in the city over the shooting of a woman who attempted to run down an ICE officer earlier in the day.

The leftist activist has nearly 90,000 YouTube followers.

Mercado’s Facebook profile reads, “Editor-In-Chief at Mercado Media. YouTube Partner. Meta Partner. US Army Veteran. Minnesotan.”

During his stream from Wednesday’s protest, Mercado is seen walking among a group of activists while ranting about his plans to target “right-wing propagandists.”

“I’m going to harass the f-ck out of right-wing propagandists… tracking where they’re at and then just literally following them with a feed… They’ll have security but that’s fine,” the activist streamer stated.

Mercado continued, “Security will have to earn their paycheck that day… We have to follow Nick Shirleys and Cam Higby around… They need to not be able to move without the entire country knowing where they are at.”

The portion of his livestream was clipped and posted to X, where it now has over 100,000 views.

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Trump Admin’s New Nutrition Guidelines Aim To End Corporate Profiteering On Americans’ Poor Health

he Trump administration announced new dietary guidelines aimed at ending “corporate-driven” preferences for ultra-processed foods, added sugar, and refined carbohydrates on Wednesday.

The Make America Healthy Again-oriented changes to the food pyramid, nutrition education, and government programs’ methods for procurement and approval of food represent the “most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a White House press briefing.

“For decades, Americans have grown sicker while health care costs have soared. The reason is clear: The hard truth is that our government has been lying to us to protect corporate profit-taking, telling us that these food-like substances were beneficial to public health,” Kennedy said. “Federal policy promoted and subsidized highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates, and turned a blind eye to the disastrous consequences. Today, the lies stop.”

“My message is clear: Eat real food,” he added.

Federal dietary guidelines shape many federal programs, as well as the groceries eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), school lunches, the food procured by government agencies, including the Pentagon, Veterans Affairs hospitals, and more. They also guide how Americans are educated about food and nutrition.

“Common purchases” for the 42 million Americans on SNAP are products that include added sugars and chips, Kennedy said, noting that 78 percent of those on SNAP are also enrolled in Medicaid.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said her department is working to finalize a “rule that will mandate” that all 250,000 retailers that accept SNAP benefits in the United States “double the type of staple foods” they provide to SNAP recipients.

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Minnesota Democrats Blocked Auditors from Tackling ‘Avalanche’ of Somali Fraud, Blacklisted Whistleblowers

The Somali-dominated Democratic political machine in Minnesota successfully silenced hundreds of government experts who tracked the huge flow of taxpayer funds through Somali-run businesses, a top Minnesota Republican told a House hearing on Wednesday.

Up to 1,000 government auditors, accountants, and program managers were silenced by Democratic threats, Minnesota House Rep. Marion Rarick told a House hearing:

The most severe ones was that they would be fired with cause so they couldn’t have unemployment insurance, that they would be blacklisted from all state agencies… [including] Hennepin County, Ramsey County. As you know, those are Democrat-run.

Many government experts, non-government professionals, and Republicans detected many of the frauds, but their voices were muffled by Democrats who allied with the Somalians’ political machine in the state. “They don’t want a fraud unit to do anything — they want a fraud unit [only] on paper,” Steve Halicki, a Minnesota fraud investigator, told a TV station in 2015.

In 2023, state employees formed an anonymous group on Twitter to report the fraud to the public: “We are over 480 Minnesota state staff serving with pride & commitment to our people & state. We strive for a better Minnesota free of fraud. Commentary Account,” they wrote.

On January 7, the group declared:

We’ve been yelling from every rooftop possible about fraud. Few understood or listened to the scale of the problem. Systemic issues mean that someone in leadership is advising or forcing staff to commit wrongdoing. And these leaders will be NAMED.

Journalists’ clout in Minneapolis has also been shattered by the political and economic power of the Somali migrants. The result is that local politicians and cops were able to ignore multiple articles and TV segments about blatant fraud by many Somali businesses.

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CMS Chief Dr. Oz Confirms SNAP and Medicaid Are Being Weaponized for Massive Voter Fraud in Blue States — Illegal Aliens Get Ballot Access, Stealing Elections!

In a bombshell interview with Laura Ingraham, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz laid bare a systemic, government-enabled pipeline in Democrat-run states that links taxpayer-funded welfare enrollment to voter registration.

According to Dr. Oz, federal laws tying voter registration to welfare programs like Medicaid and SNAP are being exploited to register illegal aliens or non-citizens, effectively stealing elections by building partisan voter bases.

Dr. Oz specifically pointed to Minnesota as a prime example of how the system is being exploited, accusing state officials of making it ‘easy for fraudsters to make out like bandits.’

According to Oz, lax oversight has allowed massive abuse of Medicaid dollars, money that should be reserved for the disabled, children with autism, and families genuinely in need.

Under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) frameworks, enrolling migrants into expansive welfare programs in sanctuary-style states also triggers voter registration mechanisms.

Enacted in 1993, the NVRA was designed to expand voter registration access by mandating that various state offices serve as voter registration agencies.

Section 7 requires states to offer voter registration opportunities at all offices that provide public assistance, including those administering programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). 

Under Section 7, state agencies are federally mandated to provide a voter registration application with each application for assistance, as well as during every recertification, renewal, or change of address.

This creates a welfare-to-ballot pipeline, effectively allowing left-wing political machines to harvest votes while draining federal resources.

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Somali fraud scam mastermind’s humiliating fall from grace as judge orders Porsche and millions seized

A ringleader of the $250 million Minnesota welfare fraud scandal has been ordered to forfeit her Porsche, diamond jewelry, Louis Vuitton bags and millions of dollars in bank accounts.

An order from a judge just before New Year’s Eve was the latest ignominy for Aimee Bock, 44, who prosecutors declared was behind one of the biggest fraud schemes of the pandemic era.

The vast majority of the more than 57 people so far convicted in the case are part of Minnesota’s Somali community – Bock is not – and the case has exploded onto the national stage.

On Monday, Minnesota governor Tim Walz announced he would not run for a third term after it happened ‘on my watch’ and admitted ‘the buck does stop with me.’

In a preliminary court order, reviewed by the Daily Mail, Bock was ordered to forfeit $3,506,066 seized from a Bank of America account in the name of her nonprofit Feeding Our Future, along with $179,455 in a personal account.

She was also ordered to give up her Porsche Panamera, around 60 laptops, iPads and iPhones found at three addresses, along with a diamond necklace, bracelet, earrings and her Louis Vuitton purse and backpack.

Bock was found guilty in March after a six-week trial on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to commit federal program bribery.

She is being held in Sherburne County Jail in Minnesota, awaiting sentence.

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Dr. Oz Orders Full-Scale Federal Audit of Minnesota Medicaid Under Tim Walz — Fraud Will Be Clawed Back and Withheld From Future Funding

Dr. Mehmet Oz, acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has formally notified Tim Walz that every Medicaid billing submission in Minnesota will be audited—and that fraudulent claims will be clawed back and withheld from future federal funding.

In early December 2025, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz sent a formal letter and issued a public ultimatum to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz regarding the “systemic fraud” in the state’s Medicaid programs, potentially exceeding $1 billion.

Dr. Oz wrote at the time:

“You’ve probably heard the news by now: Minnesota fraudsters stole over $1 billion from Medicaid. And you deserve an explanation.

Our staff at CMS told me they’ve never seen anything like this in Medicaid — and everyone from Gov. Tim Walz on down needs to be investigated, because they’ve been asleep at the wheel. Based on what we know now, this is a clear dereliction of duty.

First, the facts:

In recent years, Minnesota Medicaid launched several new programs, including Housing Stabilization Services, which helped disabled homeless individuals, and Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention, which reimbursed therapy costs for families with autistic children.

Some bad actors in Minnesota’s Somali community decided to game the system. And when they got away with it, they decided to go bigger.

The housing program was supposed to cost $2.6 million dollars annually. Last year, it paid out over $100 million. The autism program ballooned from $3 million in 2018 to nearly $400 million in 2023.

These scammers used stolen taxpayer money to buy flashy cars, purchase overseas real estate, and offer kickbacks to parents who enrolled their kids at fake autism treatment centers. Some of it may have even made its way to the Somalian terrorist group Al-Shebab.

So why didn’t Walz stop them?

That’s simple: because he went all-in on identity politics.

Somalis are a huge voting bloc, and the state’s leaders were afraid that “forcefully tackling this issue might cause political backlash.” That’s not me saying that. It’s a Somali-American fraud investigator who talked to The New York Times.

Somali scammers get rich off the programs Gov. Walz was supposed to be managing. Minnesota politicians get elected with Somali votes and keep the money flowing. This isn’t just fraud: it’s political patronage at public expense.

When Minnesota told CMS about the problem last year, they assured us they’d handle it. By summer, it was obvious they couldn’t — or wouldn’t. So, we stepped in and shut down the worst program: housing. We also froze provider enrollment in a few of the most abused programs.

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Tim Walz Drops Out of Minnesota Governor Race. Good Riddance.

With dark clouds gathering over his previously sunny reelection bid, Tim Walz has had enough. Minnesota’s Democratic governor announced Monday he would abandon his pursuit of a third term following widespread negative publicity due to his mishandling of welfare fraud allegations.

Walz has not been accused of personal wrongdoing, but the buck stops here, as they say. Walz was the man in charge while fraudsters stole millions, or perhaps billions, of taxpayer dollars by setting up fake charities, ransacking the medical system, and operating dubious child care services. The sheer amount of plunder has attracted national media attention in recent weeks, with even The New York Times throwing Walz under the bus.

The governor’s response has not reassured his critics that he is laser focused on restoring credibility to these programs and mercilessly prosecuting thieves. It is fine to insist, as Walz has, that the entire Somali diaspora not be smeared for the criminal behavior of some community members, but the governor has made a habit of trying to redirect blame to other groups, such as white men. This is unpersuasive, since the accusations against the Somalis are about proportionality, not absolute levels of crime. Moreover, saying that we must be color-blind with respect to the ethnicities of the fraudsters while also calling for more white men to be held accountable is totally incoherent.

Unfortunately, this incoherence is broadly representative of the Walz persona. This is a man who was elevated to national prominence by Vice President Kamala Harris when she picked him to be her 2025 running mate. In Walz’s own clumsily-worded telling, she picked him because he could “code talk to white guys” like himself. He saw his job as reassuring his own identity group that they could vote for a black woman for president. It’s a reductive and extremely flawed notion of what makes for a relatable presidential ticket; Harris underperformed with men—particularly young men—of all racial backgrounds, not specifically white guys. Walz likes football and fixing trucks, so vote Harris/Walz 2024! This is identity politics at its most vacuous.

But it’s not just that Walz’s vibes are off. His governance in the state of Minnesota has been disastrous, even apart from the fraud scandal. Indeed, Walz has achieved a record as hostile to human liberty as virtually any other currently seated governor. He was, first and foremost, a COVID-19 tyrant who zealously enforced social distancing and mask requirements, including by setting up a coronavirus snitch hotline: Citizens were encouraged to report their neighbors to the government for failing to abide by COVID-19 rules. He also spent coronavirus relief money on pet projects and political kickbacks that were obviously outside the scope of what the money ought to have been used for: state workers’ parking costs, teaching women and minority owned businesses how to apply for state contracts, and the Minneapolis zoo.

For supporters of individual liberty, Walz’s various pronouncements on policy issues were like nails on a chalkboard. He said that misinformation was not protected by the First Amendment. (It is.) He said socialism was just “neighborliness.” (He should take that attitude to New York City, where it belongs, unfortunately.) He said it was “not a mistake” to send sick COVID-19 patients back to nursing homes. (Even former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has dropped that point.)

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