Massive Minnesota Fraud Case Puts AG Keith Ellison Under Microscope as Climate Ties Resurface

A sweeping fraud scandal is putting Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in the spotlight, reviving questions about his controversial ties to progressive environmental causes.

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Now, with a federal investigation underway into what prosecutors allege was a massive scheme to siphon taxpayer funds meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellison is facing intensified attention — and his long-simmering, controversial environmental ties are back under a harsher spotlight.

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The latest flashpoint centers on Ellison’s 2021 meeting with Somali community figures tied to Feeding Our Future, described by prosecutors as one of the largest pandemic-era fraud cases in the country, allegedly costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and serving as the precursor to investigators uncovering other fraud schemes in the state.

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Ellison has denied wrongdoing, arguing he had no knowledge of the alleged crimes at the time. In an April 2025 op-ed in the Minnesota Star Tribune, he said he took the meeting “in good faith” and insisted he “did nothing for them and took nothing from them.”

A Minnesota woman convicted in the scheme alleged that Gov. Tim Walz and Ellison were aware of the widespread fraud before it hit the nation’s radar, which Ellison forcefully denied.

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