Minnesota’s Democrat Attorney General Keith Ellison is now facing renewed scrutiny after resurfacing evidence shows he once championed federal legislation designed to make it easier to send money overseas, specifically to Somalia.
It comes as Minnesota is rocked by an escalating Somali-led taxpayer fraud scandal, one of the largest in U.S. history.
Before becoming Minnesota’s top law enforcement officer, Ellison served in Congress representing Minnesota’s 5th District, which includes Minneapolis.
During his entire time in the U.S. House, Ellison sponsored just one piece of legislation.
That bill was the Money Remittances Improvement Act of 2014.
That bill loosened restrictions on international money transfers, making it easier for funds to be sent abroad, including to Somalia.
Even more alarming, Ellison was later caught on video openly discussing the bill in an interview with The Mogadishu Times.
He admitted the goal was to ensure cash continued flowing out of the United States, specifically to Somalia.
“The discussion focused on how we can keep money flowing to Somalia,” Ellison said.
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Those words are now echoing loudly as Minnesota authorities uncover billions of dollars in alleged fraud, much of it tied to Somali-owned shell nonprofits and social services programs.
In addition, much of the stolen money had been routed overseas, mainly to Somalia.
A System Built to Be Exploited?
As Hot Air reported, Ellison’s bill quietly shifted oversight of international money transfers away from federal regulators and onto the states, a move critics say created massive blind spots that fraudsters could exploit.
“It turns out that this bill was the Money Remittances Improvement Act, which created the conditions through which those hundreds of millions or likely billions of dollars were fraudulently acquired and sent off to fund the Somali civil war and to enrich members of Somali clans associated with those who settled here in Minnesota,” Hot Air wrote.
While the bill was sold as a way to help refugees send small amounts of money to family members overseas, critics argue the structure was ripe for abuse, not by low-income workers, but by sophisticated fraud networks moving enormous sums with minimal oversight.
“It’s almost as if the system were intentionally designed not to aid in the small remittances of people working in menial jobs,” the outlet noted, “but rather to enable the shipment of hundreds of millions or billions of ill-gotten gains abroad.”
“Such Corruption Is Impossible in America… Right?”
The revelations have taken on new urgency as Ellison now serves as Minnesota’s attorney general, the very official tasked with prosecuting fraud.
“Such corruption is impossible in America, right?” Hot Air asked sarcastically.
“A man with the patriotism and integrity that would vault him to the exalted heights of Congressman, Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and then Attorney General would ever participate in a scheme to defraud the state and federal governments, right?”
Ellison has also been caught on separate recordings that critics say suggest he was willing to offer political assistance to individuals later implicated in fraud schemes, further fueling concerns about conflicts of interest and selective enforcement.
A System Designed for Exploitation
Minnesota’s ongoing fraud investigations have already exposed staggering losses to taxpayers, with multiple cases involving fake nonprofits, inflated billing, and money routed overseas.
Republicans and watchdog groups are now demanding answers about who enabled the system, and why warning signs were ignored for years.
As more evidence emerges, Ellison’s past legislative record is no longer a footnote.
It is becoming central to a growing question:
Was Minnesota’s fraud disaster made possible by policy choices designed to look compassionate, but built to be exploited?
Alarmingly, the man who helped build that system is now in charge of prosecuting its abuse.
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