Treasury secretary announces cash rewards for Minnesota fraud whistleblowers

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Treasury secretary announces cash rewards for Minnesota fraud whistleblowers

Officials are investigating the 'who, what, when, where and how' the fraud was carried out, Scott Bessent says

Nora Moriarty Fox News

Published

January 9, 2026 10:10pm EST

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Treasury Secretary Bessent touts cash rewards for fraud whistleblowers

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent details cash rewards for Minnesota fraud whistleblowers and more on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

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Whistleblowers who come forward with information related to Minnesota’s sprawling fraud scandal will receive cash payments, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on Fox News.

The Trump administration launched a wide-scale fraud investigation in Minnesota amid a growing web of allegations involving money-laundering schemes and misuse of taxpayer funds.

"We know that these rats will turn on each other," Bessent told "The Ingraham Angle."

"We are going to offer whistleblower payments to anyone who wants to tell us the who, what, when, where and how this fraud has been done. I think that that will give us a great leap forward on how to get it done," he added.

CRITICS WARN MINNESOTA LEGISLATION NOW TAKING EFFECT IS SETTING UP THE 'NEXT BILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD'

Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state. (Madelin Fuerste / Fox News Channel)

Several Minnesota childcare and food-distribution facilities have been accused of misusing federal funds while a recent audit showed corruption tied to taxpayer-funded grant programs.

The daycare and food-distribution sites allegedly did not provide childcare or serve food, but instead used the federal funds they received to launder money.

Nick Shirley upended the news cycle last month with a 42-minute video investigating Minnesota daycare centers that appeared inactive despite receiving millions of dollars in government funding. (Nick Shirley)

A state audit found limited monitoring of grant programs within the Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration, which distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to mental health and addiction services.

The Trump administration froze multiple federal funding streams to Minnesota, including certain funding from the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

However, a federal judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration from freezing about $10 billion in federal funding to five Democratic-led states.

BESSENT BLAMES WALZ AS TREASURY PROBES WHETHER MINNESOTA FRAUD FUNDS REACHED TERROR GROUP AL-SHABAB

Federal agents question a man in Minneapolis

Homeland Security investigators were part of a fraud investigation in Minneapolis following the release of a video on alleged daycare fraud. (Department of Homeland Security)

Bessent said the fraud continues, pointing to a recent finding in which a convicted fraudster allegedly attempted to bribe a juror.

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"One of the people who has been convicted of fraud — she was given $200,000 to bribe a juror," he explained. "And she was so corrupt, she skimmed $80,000 of it and only tried to give a $120,000 bribe."

Nora Moriarty is a Production Assistant at FOX News.

Treasury secretary announces cash rewards for Minnesota fraud whistleblowers