MINNEAPOLIS — Long before the FBI accused the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future and some of its prime contractors of fraud, the federal government's child nutrition programs were wasting more than $1 billion a year on "improper payments," according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The GAO first raised the issue of sloppy oversight in 1999, when a whistle-blower complained about financial irregularities at a California nonprofit, spurring a nationwide investigation that led to the convictions of at least 28 people on charges of defrauding the Child and Adult Care Food Program, or CACFP.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees more than $20 billion in spending on meals for children, has failed to close loopholes that allow meal providers to pad their bills and obtain millions of dollars they are not entitled to, according to a review of government reports and court records.
