The rampant fraud discovered under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continues to have no limits after a millionaire whistleblower says he was able to qualify for food stamps through a disastrous loophole.
However, he hopes that his revelation will help close the scandalous loophole as the state grapples with a massive fraud scandal.
Rob Undersander, a retired engineer who volunteers to help seniors navigate the government benefits system, said he learned during training that eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Minnesota was based on income only, not assets.
Because his retirement income was low, he realized he could qualify even though he had significant savings and property.
To test the system, Undersander applied for benefits in Stearns County in 2016 and was approved within weeks.
He later said he collected thousands of dollars in SNAP benefits over more than a year, which he donated to charity, in an effort to draw attention to the issue.
“I strongly support SNAP benefits for truly needy individuals, but when we have nearly one in seven Americans receiving food support in the wealthiest nation on earth, with historically low unemployment rate, something is wrong,” Undersander told Fox News.
“One might call the current eligibility rules fraud by design. And given the current climate of fraud and abuse of taxpayer-funded benefits in Minnesota, I’m hoping that there will be a new bipartisan effort to reduce and eliminate both.”
Undersander testified in front of the Minnesota House Public Safety Committee last Tuesday in a hearing on a SNAP reform bill introduced by GOP state Rep. Pam Altendorf.
The bill would tighten eligibility rules for food stamp benefits by requiring stricter income and asset verification before recipients can enroll in SNAP.
Over the 10 years since he first exposed the flaw in the SNAP system, Undersander has become a vocal advocate of making changes, even testifying before Congress, but says nothing has been done by the elected officials.
“I have purchased lobster and filet mignon on my EBT card,” Undersander said.
“Isn’t that crazy?”
“During former President Joe Biden’s administration, federal spending on SNAP climbed to record highs at $128 billion in 2021 and $127 billion in 2022, largely driven by COVID-19 relief measures that expanded access to food assistance,” Fox Business reported last November.
In a November press release, Altendorf’s office reported that Minnesota distributed nearly $725 million in benefits in 2020, but that total jumped to nearly $2 billion in 2021, marking a 174% increase in just one year.
“SNAP is meant to help needy Minnesotans put food on the table, not to subsidize people who already have significant financial resources,” America First Policy Institute Health & Harvest Campaign Director Matt Schmid, who is also testifying on Tuesday, told Fox News.
“It’s unacceptable that under Minnesota’s current system, even millionaires and lottery winners can qualify for taxpayer-funded benefits. That is a fundamentally broken system.”
The push for tighter SNAP rules comes as Walz faces ongoing criticism over major fraud scandals in Minnesota’s welfare system, including hundreds of millions in fraudulent food aid payments uncovered in recent years.
Earlier this year, it was reported that a Minnesota woman was sentenced to about one year in federal prison for running a $325,000 SNAP fraud scheme with family members.
Prosecutors said they used fake identities and fraudulent documents to obtain EBT cards and maximize benefits, then withdrew and sold the funds for profit. She was also ordered to repay the stolen money.