明尼苏达州候选人“压力测试”该州新欺诈防治法 — 她的发现敲响重大警示
海蒂·海诺针对“监督办公室法案”对“未来食品计划”骗局展开测试，发现关键漏洞
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/kiera-headshot.jpg
作者：基拉·麦克唐纳、安德鲁·马克·米勒
福克斯新闻
发布时间：美国东部时间2026年10月24日 早上6点
明尼苏达州候选人警示该州监督办公室法案存在漏洞
明尼苏达州第36参议院选区共和党候选人海蒂·海诺接受福克斯数字新闻采访，她将该州《监督办公室法案》与包括“未来食品计划”在内的过往欺诈案件进行了测试。
新体验 现在您可以收听福克斯新闻的文章
https://www.foxnews.com/2f9167fd-2286-43ec-aaec-368e0d829624
收听这篇文章
时长：4分钟
明尼苏达州一名州参议院候选人透露，她将州长蒂姆·瓦尔兹签署的一项欺诈防治法与该州过往的欺诈丑闻进行测试后，发现了多处漏洞，这些漏洞本可以更早遏制欺诈行为。
这项名为《监督办公室法案》的措施，设立了一个独立的全州监督机构，负责监督各部门的监察长、调查全州各项目的涉嫌欺诈行为、制定欺诈防治标准并改进协调与数据共享工作。
不过，明尼苏达州第36参议院选区共和党候选人海蒂·海诺告诉福克斯数字新闻，她针对“未来食品计划”骗局及其他过往欺诈案件的测试显示，该法律在潜在风险出现时缺乏额外的保障措施。
“当我针对‘未来食品计划’和明尼苏达州其他一些欺诈骗局进行压力测试时，该法律最终会发现欺诈行为，但此时资金早已流失殆尽，我们仍然只能忙着追讨赃款，”海诺表示。
明尼苏达男子涉嫌协助策划2.5亿美元儿童营养欺诈计划，在索马里被捕
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/tim-walz-national-guard-minnesota.jpg
2026年1月6日星期二，明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·瓦尔兹在明尼阿波利斯体育馆大楼出席关于该州新带薪家庭休假政策的新闻发布会。一天前他宣布退出2026年明尼苏达州州长竞选后，在该活动上接受了媒体提问。（图片来源：亚历克斯·科尔曼/《明尼苏达明星论坛报》/盖蒂图片社）
该法律是在明尼苏达州面临 childcare、自闭症、住房和残障服务等大型欺诈计划的余波时通过的。共和党将责任归咎于领导层和监管失误，而特朗普政府则成立了由副总统JD·万斯领导的联邦反欺诈特别工作组。
作为一名日常工作涉及风险评估的企业高管，海诺表示她运用了类似的审查和审计方法来测试明尼苏达州欺诈保障措施的不足之处。
“企业用少量资源就能做很多事，”她说，“政府则恰恰相反，他们用大量资源却只做少量事。”
海诺在测试中利用了2020年至2021年“未来食品计划”支付金额2800%的涨幅，这一增幅本应自动敲响警钟并引发进一步审查。该计划据称在新冠疫情期间从一项联邦资助的儿童营养计划中窃取了2.5亿美元。
欺诈专家揭露隐藏网络如何推动明尼苏达州及其他重大欺诈案：“犯罪企业”
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/feeding-our-future-raid.jpg
2022年1月20日星期四，联邦调查局突袭了位于明尼苏达州圣安东尼的非营利组织“未来食品计划”。联邦调查局表示，这家位于圣安东尼的非营利组织是一项广泛骗局的一部分，该骗局从美国农业部骗取了数百万美元，将联邦资助的儿童营养计划的资金分流至多个实体，用于洗钱并购买私人房地产、汽车及其他奢侈品。（图片来源：伊丽莎白·弗洛雷斯/《明星论坛报》/盖蒂图片社）
“您无需是侦探就能看出这里存在某些问题，因此需要对此展开调查，核实这些说法是否属实，若属实则需有人实际签字确认，”她补充道，填写额外文书工作可能令人沮丧，但从长远来看有助于防止欺诈。
海诺还指出，“未来食品计划”本不应被允许自行处理针对自身的投诉。
“我们收到了30起向明尼苏达州教育部举报的欺诈投诉，这些投诉大多被忽视，或者由‘未来食品计划’自行整改，这是一个巨大的漏洞，”她说。
她提议立即冻结支付、开展全面审查并启动外部审计。
“监督办公室有良好的基础，但需要具备执行力，”她表示。
海诺称，没有独立审计，明尼苏达州将无法发现与欺诈相关的漏洞，称额外的监管措施节省的资金将超过其成本。
共和党指责瓦尔兹盟友在选举前掩盖5200万美元医疗补助欺诈报告
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/quality-learning-sign-improved.jpg
明尼苏达州的Quality Learning Center被认定为该州涉嫌儿童看护欺诈丑闻的核心。（图片来源：马德琳·弗尔斯特/福克斯新闻）
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/clear.gif
“我们收到了大量反对意见，称这会很昂贵，但事实真的如此吗？”她说，“开展独立审计的成本将低于所有欺诈行为带来的损失，以及纳税人的资金被欺诈活动卷走的成本。”
海诺表示，这些同样的问题也适用于当前的州级项目，比如明尼苏达州的带薪休假计划。
“不过，在开始发放款项之前，我们需要加强监管并开展更多调查，尤其是对于带薪家庭休假而言，”她说，“他们在核实并确认医生出具的证明真实有效之前就已经发放了款项。”
她承认该法律是解决问题的“良好第一步”，但表示其力度不足以保护纳税人并防止未来的欺诈行为。
作为一名母亲、祖母和纳税人，海诺表示她受够了本州领导人处理欺诈问题的方式，并补充称问题已严重到让明尼苏达州成为“全国笑柄”，人们不再愿意声称自己来自该州。
点击下载福克斯新闻应用
“我们需要将这些资源投向真正需要的人，防止欺诈者卷走我们的资金，购买豪华公寓或住宅，然后将资金转移至国外，”她说。
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/clear.gif
福克斯数字新闻联系了瓦尔兹办公室和明尼苏达州教育部以寻求置评。
“我们从未松懈过，明尼苏达州的欺诈问题并未停止，”美国实验中心的政策研究员比尔·格拉恩在8月告诉福克斯数字新闻，他认为该州的欺诈问题尚未得到妥善解决。
基拉·麦克唐纳是福克斯数字新闻的制作助理。
Minnesota candidate ‘stress tests’ state’s new fraud law — what she found raised major red flags
Heidi Heino tested the Office of the Inspector General law against the Feeding Our Future scheme and found key gaps
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/kiera-headshot.jpgBy Kiera McDonald , Andrew Mark MillerFox News
Published October 24, 2026 6:00am EDT
Minnesota candidate sounds alarm on gaps in state’s inspector general law
Heidi Heino, the Republican candidate for Minnesota’s 36th Senate District, spoke to Fox News Digital about her test of the state’s Office of the Inspector General law against past fraud schemes, including Feeding Our Future.
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!
https://www.foxnews.com/2f9167fd-2286-43ec-aaec-368e0d829624
Listen to this article
4 min
A Minnesota state Senate candidate revealed she found several vulnerabilities in a fraud prevention law signed by Gov. Tim Walz after testing it against the state’s previous fraud scandals to see whether it could have caught them sooner.
The measure in question, the Office of the Inspector General law, creates an independent statewide watchdog that oversees inspectors general, investigates alleged fraud across state programs, establishes fraud prevention standards, and improves coordination and data sharing.
However, Heidi Heino, the Republican candidate for Minnesota’s 36th Senate District, told Fox News Digital her test against the Feeding Our Future scheme and other past fraud cases found the law lacks extra safeguards when potential risks emerge.
“When I stress tested against Feeding Our Future and some of the other fraud schemes that we had in Minnesota, it would have found the fraud eventually, but it’s way after the money was already gone and we would still be stuck trying to claw it back,” Heino said.
MINNESOTA MAN CAPTURED IN SOMALIA AFTER ALLEGEDLY HELPING ORCHESTRATE $250M CHILD NUTRITION FRAUD SCHEME
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/tim-walz-national-guard-minnesota.jpg
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks during a press conference focused on Minnesota’s new paid family leave policy, Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at the Coliseum Building in Minneapolis, Minn. Walz took questions from the media at the event, a day after he announced that he is withdrawing from the 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial race.(Photo by Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
The law was passed as Minnesota faces the fallout from massive fraud schemes involving childcare, autism, housing and disability services. Republicans have blamed leadership and oversight failures, while the Trump administration launched a federal anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance.
Working as a corporate leader whose day job involves underwriting, Heino said she used similar review and auditing practices to test where Minnesota’s fraud safeguards fell short.
“Business does a lot with a little,” she said. “Government does the opposite. They do a little with a lot of resources.”
Heino said she used a 2,800% increase in payments to Feeding Our Future from 2020 to 2021 in her test, a jump that should have automatically raised alarm bells and led to further review. The scheme alone allegedly stole $250 million from a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FRAUD EXPERT EXPOSES HOW HIDDEN NETWORKS DROVE MINNESOTA FRAUD, OTHER MAJOR SCAMS: ‘CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE’
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/feeding-our-future-raid.jpg
FBI raid Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding our Future, in St. Anthony, Minn., on Thursday, January 20, 2022. The FBI says the St. Anthony-based nonprofit was part of a broad scheme to defraud the USDA of millions, funneling money from federally funded child nutrition programs to an array of entities to launder the money and use it for personal real estate, cars and other luxury items.(Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
“You don’t have to be a detective to see that there’s some issue there and so to investigate that and check and see if those claims are legitimate, and if they were legitimate, have someone actually sign off on it,” she said, adding that filling out extra paperwork may be frustrating but can help prevent fraud in the long run.
Heino also argued Feeding Our Future should not have been allowed to address complaints against itself.
“We had 30 complaints to the Minnesota Department of Education regarding the fraud and they are mostly overlooked or Feeding Our Future had to go correct itself and that was a huge gap there,” she said.
She proposed immediately freezing payments, conducting a full review, and triggering an outside audit.
“The OIG has good bones, but it needs teeth,” she said.
Without independent audits, Heino said Minnesota will not be able to uncover fraud-related gaps, saying the additional oversight would save more money than it costs.
GOP ACCUSES WALZ ALLIES OF BURYING $52M MEDICAID FRAUD REPORT BEFORE ELECTION
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/quality-learning-sign-improved.jpg
Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was identified at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state.(Madelin Fuerste/Fox News)
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/clear.gif
“We get a lot of pushback saying this is going to be expensive, but is it?” she said. “It will be less expensive to have an independent audit than it is going to be to have all the fraud and lose taxpayer dollars to fraudulent activities.”
Those same issues apply to current state programs like Minnesota’s Paid Leave program, according to Heino.
“However, we need to rein it in and have more investigation before we start sending out the checks, especially with paid family leave,” she said. “They pay out before they have the doctor’s note certifying that this is actually true and they have verified it.”
She acknowledged that the law is a “great first step” toward addressing the problem but said it does not go far enough to protect taxpayers and prevent future fraud.
As a mother, grandmother and taxpayer, Heino said she is fed up with how leaders in her home state have handled fraud, adding the problem has gotten so bad that Minnesota has become the “laughing stock of the nation” and people no longer want to say they are from the state anymore.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“We need to funnel those resources to the people that actually need them and keep people committing fraud from taking our money and running away with it, buying luxury condos or homes, and then funneling it out of the country,” she said.
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/clear.gif
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office and the Minnesota Department of Education for comment.
“We have not slowed down, there is no sense in which the fraud has been stopped in Minnesota,” Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News Digital in August, making the case that the fraud situation in the state has not been properly addressed.
Kiera McDonald is a Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.