Keith Ellison is up for re-election as Minnesota’s Attorney General, and he’s campaigning as the state’s top fraud fighter. But his opponent just dropped two bombshells that could blow that entire image apart. A local TV news investigation spent months going through the actual fraud cases Ellison claims to have prosecuted during his nearly eight years in office. What they found paints a very different picture than the one Ellison has been selling to voters.
First, they dug into Ellison’s claim that his office has recovered $90 million from fraudsters. After reviewing all the records, this investigative team found that the state has actually recovered only $3 million. Not ninety million. Three million.
That’s a staggering gap, and it raises serious questions about what Ellison has been telling the public. The second bombshell is perhaps even more damaging. In case after case, Ellison’s office has been cutting sweetheart plea deals with people who committed felony-level fraud. These deals allow the fraudsters to complete probation and have their felonies knocked down to misdemeanors or wiped from their records entirely.
One example from the report: Laura Hong Gonzalez worked for MNSure, the state’s health care marketplace. In 2020, investigators say she manipulated data in a state computer system that allowed Medicaid funds to flow to a company she had set up for her daughter. She siphoned off more than $3,300 and was caught trying to steal another $10,000. The state’s Department of Human Services fired her.
Three years later, the Attorney General’s Office charged her with medical assistance fraud, theft by swindle, embezzlement of public funds, and misconduct of a public officer. In 2024, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to two charges. Her plea agreement included a stay of imposition, meaning if she successfully completes her probation, that felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor. University of Minnesota law professor Amy Sweezy explained how it works.
If the defendant completes all the conditions and terms of their probation, the final felony sentence is never actually imposed. And this isn’t an isolated case. The investigation analyzed more than 250 Medicaid fraud cases charged by Ellison’s office. Nearly 80% of the convictions fall into this category.
The defendant completes probation, and the felony is knocked down to a misdemeanor. At least 70 other convicted fraudsters had their criminal convictions dismissed entirely after probation. So, in eight out of ten cases, people who pleaded guilty to felony fraud will not have a felony on their permanent record. When questioned about this practice, Ellison tried to distance himself from the outcome.
He said that whether someone gets a felony on their record isn’t something the Attorney General ultimately decides, pointing instead to judicial discretion in sentencing. But as the prosecutor’s office, his team sets the tone for these cases. They’re the ones who negotiate and accept these plea deals. Ellison argued that the system is adversarial and includes the prosecution, the defense, and the court.
He pointed to the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, which give non-prison sentences to offenders with little to no criminal history. When asked how that system is working, he insisted that being charged with Medicaid fraud is life-ruining even without a permanent felony. He said the person had to plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing in front of the whole world, and that alone is a serious consequence. But the question remains: is that really justice when fraudsters who stole from programs meant to help vulnerable people walk away without a felony on their record after a short probation?
Ellison was reportedly leading by eight points in recent polls. Now, those polls have tightened, and the race looks like it might be a tie. Voters seem to be paying attention. The reports suggest a pattern of Ellison claiming to fight fraud while quietly letting fraudsters off easy, making deals that erase their crimes from their records, and inflating the numbers about what he says he has recovered.
All of this was happening while massive fraud schemes flourished under his watch. Thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, meant for people who needed help, siphoned away by people who treated these programs like their personal piggy banks. Now, as the election approaches, his opponent is using these findings to argue that Ellison was not just asleep at the wheel, but actively deceiving the public about his record. The voters of Minnesota will have to decide whether they want to keep an Attorney General whose record on fraud is looking increasingly soft, or whether they want something different.
The polls suggest it’s going to be a close call.
