State Senator Rob Kupec Ignored Criminal Charges When Giving Taxpayer Money to a Fraudster’s Non-profit

If Moorhead area State Senator Rob Kupec wants to keep his job despite being wrong so often, he should probably stick to the weather instead of the Capitol.

Minnesotans deserve to know how $9 billion in fraud was even possible. With politicians like Rob Kupec, it’s easy to see why we are in this mess. Liberal legislators like Rob Kupec 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.

Rob Kupec 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, Rob Kupec voted for and passed three bills (HF 1999, SF 3035, SF 2934) providing grants to Ka Joog (including $400,000 for Somali cultural festivals in greater Minnesota) totaling over $4,000,000 in taxpayer funds for the non-profit.

The following year, Rob Kupec still wouldn’t let criminal charges get in the way of his support for fraudsters, and authored another bill to award Ka Joog $3,000,000. 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 Rob Kupec 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• Ka Joog’s non-profit status had been revoked by the IRS for noncompliance.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, Rob Kupec is a perfect example of why.

Rob should go back to forecasting the weather instead of forecasting a fraud-ridden state budget.