Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), admonishing the governor for the number of fraudulent so-called “ghost students” in Minnesota applying to universities.
McMahon’s letter referenced the issue of financial aid fraud, in which “ghost students” game the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process to steal federal student aid money. The Education Department has explained that these fraudsters can pose as students through the use of artificial intelligence bots, can organize through international crime rings, and often use the information of deceased individuals.
“In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest — without attending the college at all,” McMahon wrote in her letter to Walz.
Walz has come under fire in recent weeks for various alleged fraud schemes throughout Minnesota, primarily stemming from reports of alleged Somali fraudsters siphoning money from the state’s welfare services. McMahon tapped into these reports and ripped Walz for what she called a “massive scandal of welfare fraud in Minnesota.”
“Shame on you, Governor Walz, for allowing this to happen-and for benefiting from it. Stop defrauding American taxpayers,” McMahon wrote. “No politician is above the law, and my department, alongside every other agency under the leadership of President [Donald] Trump, will continue to ensure that you will not be able to dodge accountability for your actions.”
McMahon then called on Walz to resign and “make way for more capable leadership.”
WALZ SAYS HE WOULD ‘WELCOME MORE’ SOMALIS AS FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTENSIFIES
The Education Department announced on Thursday that it has thwarted over $1 billion in student aid fraud since January, but did not specify which states were the most heavily affected.
Neither Walz’s office nor the Education Department responded to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
