Facing claims of fraud, nonprofit agrees to $18.5 million settlement with state of Minnesota
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A nonprofit connected to Feeding Our Future will pay the state of Minnesota $18.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
The settlement agreement, filed Thursday in Hennepin County District Court, states the nonprofit Partners in Nutrition — which operated as Partners in Quality Care — will dissolve and pay the state $18.5 million.
The state will then return that money to the federal government, which originally funded the meal programs for children that the nonprofit allegedly took advantage of during the pandemic.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the payment “represents the entirety of the funds in the nonprofit’s possession.”
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The lawsuit filed by Ellison claims that Partners “took advantage of temporary waivers in federal child nutrition program requirements established in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic — waivers intended to increase access to food for children — to enable fraudsters who submitted false claims for reimbursement to the state agency administering the federal child nutrition programs.”
While Partners agreed to the settlement, the court filing states that the nonprofit denies the allegations in the lawsuit “and states that there are meritorious affirmative defenses it could pursue.”
In an earlier investigation, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Partners was investigated by the FBI for allegedly stealing nearly $100 million by falsely claiming to feed thousands of children. Yet the organization and its leaders have not faced the same criminal charges as its competitor Feeding Our Future.
The Star Tribune reported that Feeding Our Future defendant Aimee Bock worked at Partners before being fired and taking control of Feeding Our Future. Leaders at Partners had originally set up Feeding Our Future, but under Bock’s leadership Feeding Our Future became one of Partners’ main competitors.
After the FBI investigation into Feeding Our Future became public in 2022, the Minnesota Department of Education cut off the money flowing to both Feeding Our Future and Partners. Feeding Our Future dissolved after federal indictments, but Partners fought regulators.
The Attorney General’s Office investigated Partners, then entered pre-suit negotiation with the organization and ultimately settled.
“They were claiming millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded money for meals that were never delivered to Minnesota’s kids. I think that’s awful, horrible behavior,” Ellison told MPR News on Thursday.
Ellison said his office only has original jurisdiction over Medicaid fraud cases, so the office used its civil authority to hold Partners to account. But Ellison said he can make criminal referrals — and has referred one person already.
“There are others who we’re looking at, but we can’t disclose their names because this is an active investigation,” Ellison said.
MPR News journalists Matt Sepic and Ellie Roth contributed to this report.
