Minnesota DHS whistleblower details 'smear campaign' after reporting fraud concerns to state

A Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) whistleblower said she has been raising red flags about fraud in the state since 2019, but has faced only unyielding retaliation in response, calling Gov. Tim Walz's assertion that he was unaware of the problem "absolutely false."

Faye Bernstein, who has worked for Minnesota's DHS for two decades in contract management and compliance, said she was subjected to a "smear campaign" for trying to make leadership aware of illegal contracting practices. She said she was called "racist" and that her work responsibilities were diminished.

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A whistleblower from within the Minnesota Department of Human Services said the backlash said she escalated her fraud concerns to the governor's office, but faced only retaliation as thanks. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

"There is just a continuous effort to stifle you, to shut you up. And it is impossible to overcome," Bernstein said on "Saturday in America."

Federal prosecutors estimate that up to $9 billion was stolen through a network of fraudulent fronts posing as daycare centers, food programs and health clinics. The majority of those charged, so far, in the ongoing investigation are part of Minnesota's Somali population.

Rather than receiving thanks for speaking out about irregularities within the contracting process, Bernstein wrote in a letter obtained exclusively by "Saturday in America" that the "nearly unbearable retaliation" she faced also included being "trespassed from all DHS-owned or leased property" and investigated "at a great cost to the state."

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A Minnesota Department of Human Services whistleblower said the backlash she faced when trying to escalate reports of fraud was "impossible to overcome." (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Bernstein said she consistently raised concerns internally and escalated them "to the Governor's Office and external oversight bodies," but the response was always the same.

"It was that I was, in fact, the bad employee," she said, and claimed she notified leaders in multiple departments so many times that she was becoming embarrassed about sounding like "a broken record."

"It's been sometimes just downright embarrassing to go on and on about this. So to say that leadership was not aware, or the governor was not aware is — I can tell you that is absolutely false."

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Bernstein said she identified as a Democrat and had only voted for Democrats, but that the fraud in Minnesota was not being invented by Republicans, pushing back on Walz's description of the allegations as "make-believe."

"I see this every day... and it is not make-believe. And as far as my being a Democrat, right now, we have to have a governor who is willing to tackle this. And it doesn't matter if they are Republican or a Democrat."

Fox News Digital's Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.