The four prosecutors who led Minnesota’s $250 million fraud case have all resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota in recent days, as have more than a dozen others in a growing wave of resignations, and will not appear at the next trial.

The departures will leave the already shrinking office with just 17 assistant U.S. attorneys, down from 70 under Biden, according to sources inside the firm.

Former prosecutors Joe Thompson, Harry Jacobs, Daniel Bobier and Matthew Ebert — the four lawyers who led the $250 million nourishing our future fraud casethis was the first shoe to be dropped in a large-scale environment. Minnesota fraud case — handed over the prosecution to a relatively new employee.

Harry Jacobs, recently appointed head of the department’s criminal division, was also involved in the prosecution of Vance Boulter, who was charged with the crime. assassination Former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives melissa hoatman and her husband Mark.

Those close to the retired lawyers cited a variety of factors for the staff reshuffle, including caseload management, structural issues within the firm, the Trump administration’s influence over the firm and concerns related to the ongoing Metro Surge operation. Immigration control operations Thousands of people have been arrested and there have been repeated clashes with protesters in the Twin Cities, including two was killed by federal employee.

“The mass exodus that is happening in Minnesota is alarming,” said Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection, a Washington, D.C.-based organization of former Justice Department officials.

“We should all pay attention to why some of our state’s top federal prosecutors chose to resign. It has nothing to do with political disagreements. Rather, this administration was asking them to meet their legal and ethical responsibilities, and they believed that resigning was their only option,” Young said. “The loss of institutional knowledge and expertise will destabilize the U.S. Attorney’s Office and weaken protections for the safety and rights of Minnesotans.”

The office’s manpower had been depleted even before Operation Metro Surge. By the time Daniel Rosen took over as U.S. attorney in October 2025, the number of prosecutors had already fallen to fewer than 40, former and current officials told CBS News. They cited retirements and transfers by the Trump administration, including job cuts related to the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

The Justice Department is trying to strengthen the ranks of Minnesota prosecutors with prosecutors from neighboring districts, including Michigan, the Department of Homeland Security and military lawyers. But that doesn’t always work. DHS attorney working in Minnesota on Tuesday I told the judge, “This job sucks.” He was then asked to be scorned so he could get “a good night’s sleep.” She was removed from duty in Minnesota on Wednesday.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit declined to comment when asked how many attorneys were brought in from the Eastern District of Michigan.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have so far convicted 62 people in connection with the scandal, which tops the list of the nation’s most costly COVID-19 fraud cases. Federal prosecutors estimate the loss to taxpayers is more than $1 billion.

“Feeding Our Future” was an original plan in which nonprofits tricked state and federal officials into paying them to feed thousands of hungry children, but never fed them. The group is said to have raised $250 million.

A final trial for those charged in the scheme is scheduled for April. Ikram Yusuf Mohamed, Suleman Yousuf Mohamed, Aisha Hassan Hussein, Sahra Sharif Othman, Shakur Abdinul Abdisalam, Fadumo Mohamed Yousuf and Gandhi Yousuf Mohamed are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery.

The two prosecutors currently leading the case are Rebecca Klein and Matthew Murphy. Both prosecutors joined the agency in January 2024 after going into private practice, according to their LinkedIn pages.

Since then, more fraud cases have come to light. In August, state officials suspended a housing program meant to help the elderly and disabled, citing “massive fraud.” In September, prosecutors charged eight people with registering as providers and defrauding the program by submitting millions of dollars in “false and inflated invoices.”

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who became the public face of the case after announcing the indictment, made headlines in December before resigning when he said federal prosecutors were investigating about $18 billion spent on social programs in Minnesota since 2018. CBS News asked how much of a scam they thought it was, and they said they “saw more red flags than with legitimate providers.” Thompson offers half of more than $18 billion It may be a scam.