A former UN weapons inspector has warned that al-Shabaab militants in Somalia 'almost certainly' received money stolen from Minnesota's pandemic-era feeding programme, in what is becoming one of the largest fraud scandals in US history.
Matt Bryden, who ran the UN Security Council's monitoring mission for Somalia and Eritrea for four years, told the Daily Mail that the al-Qaeda-linked group likely skimmed cash that was siphoned from the scheme and wired to the Horn of Africa. 'Al-Shabaab taxes everything it can, including remittance companies,' he said.
Authorities believe up to $1bn was stolen across multiple schemes, with $300m taken from a single federal meals programme. More than 50 people have been convicted, and court filings show chunks of the stolen cash were sent to Somalia or used to buy property in East Africa.
The US Treasury Department has opened an investigation into whether taxpayer dollars ended up with terrorists. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he wanted to know if money was diverted 'under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz.'
President Donald Trump launched a tirade against Somali immigrants, calling them 'garbage' who had 'ripped off' the state. Representative Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis, slammed Trump's remarks as xenophobic and said she was 'pretty confident' the terrorism link was false.
But Bryden argued that Somalia's economy makes the link inevitable, as al-Shabaab controls large areas and taxes all financial transfers. The group has been fighting to overthrow the UN-backed government for nearly 20 years.
