St. Cloud State Senator Aric Putnam: A Fraudster’s Best Friend

“Happy Somali Independence Day to all my Somali American neighbors and to all of us who care about independence.” – Aric Putnam 7/5/2025 via Facebook

Minnesotans deserve to know how $9 billion in fraud was even possible. With politicians like Aric Putnam, it’s easy to see why we are in this mess. Liberal legislators like Aric Putnam have routinely stood up for fraudsters.

Former Human Services Commissioner Shireen Gandhi testified to the Minnesota Fraud Prevention Committee that it was a “whole host of legislators” pressuring the agency to keep taxpayer funds flowing out the door to suspected fraudsters. A recent article also found that several legislators had advocated for Feeding Our Future vendors to be approved to receive taxpayer money.

Aric Putnam took helping fraudsters to the next level by authoring bills to directly give taxpayer money to an organization ran by a known fraudster.

In 2023, a Minneapolis-based non-profit named Ka Joog had the chair of their board charged with fraud as part of a $9.5 million scheme called by the Attorney General’s Office, “the largest Medicaid fraud prosecution by the Minnesota Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.”

The chair of Ka Joog’s board, Ali Elmi, would later plead guilty and be convicted for his role in the scheme.

That same year, Aric Putnam authored a bill to directly award Ka Joog $2,000,000 in grants for “Somali-based collaborative programs for arts and cultural heritage.” He then went on to vote for and pass three bills (HF 1999, SF 3035, SF 2934) providing grants to Ka Joog (including Putnam’s own proposal he authored for Somali-based arts) totaling over $4,000,000 in taxpayer funds for the non-profit.

The following year, Aric Putnam still wouldn’t let criminal charges get in the way of his support for fraudsters, and authored another bill to award Ka Joog $8,000,000. He then proceeded to vote for and pass SF 5289 which contained another $400,000 awarded to Ka Joog for “Somali community and cultural festivals” despite the blatant red-flags for fraud the organization had shown.

Red-flags “missed” by Aric Putnam when giving Ka Joog taxpayer money:

• The chair of Ka Joog’s board had been charged for fraud.

• Ka Joog hadn’t submitted required filings to the IRS in years.

• Ka Joog’s non-profit status had been revoked by the IRS for noncompliance.

• Ka Joog had not registered with the Attorney General’s Office as non-profits are required to.

If you wonder how money keeps flying out the door to fraudsters despite obvious red-flags, Aric Putnam is a perfect example of why. Fraudsters couldn’t have a better friend in St. Paul than Aric Putnam.