From the White House to the halls of Congress to the Minnesota State Capitol, the number is often the same when it comes to the amount of fraud in Minnesota — $9 billion.
“This hearing is going to focus on $9 billion stolen from the taxpayers,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the opening of a U.S. Senate committee hearing a few months ago.
“We have nine billion reasons, probably more, that we need accountability,” Rep. Mike Wiener, R-Long Prairie, said during a Minnesota House floor debate last spring.
“At least $19 billion,” President Donald Trump said in an Oval Office meeting last winter. “You know, you’re hearing nine (billion), now I’m hearing it’s 19 (billion), and it’s probably much more.”
Just this past Sunday, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya said in an interview on At Issue with Tom Hauser, “We, of course, are going to talk about fraud, fraud and fraud. $9…
This category refers to crimes committed by employees or insiders against their own organizations. It is often the most damaging because the perpetrator has authorized access to systems.
- Asset Misappropriation: The most common form, involving the theft of company resources. This ranges from simple “skimming” (taking cash before it’s recorded) to complex schemes involving the theft of inventory or intellectual property.
- Payroll Fraud: Employees may create “ghost employees” on the system, falsify their own timesheets to claim unworked overtime, or divert salary payments to their own accounts.
- Financial Statement Fraud: Management deliberately misrepresents the company’s financial health by inflating revenue or hiding liabilities to attract investors or meet performance bonuses.