The suit claims Nasib Bakery Food Distribution, LLC, and East African Health Network submitted millions of dollars in false claims to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing two businesses and related individuals, claiming they defrauded the state out of millions of dollars in federal child nutrition funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ellison filed two civil lawsuits. One of the suits filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court names Nasib Bakery Food Distribution, LLC and its former owner Abshir Hossen as the defendants. The other names the East African Health Network and its founder Abdinasir Elmi and affiliated entities and individuals as defendants. None of the defendants in the lawsuits have been criminally charged in federal court.

In both suits, Ellison says the defendants violated the Minnesota False Claims Act.

Ellison’s action comes just a week before the Nov. 3 election, in which fraud has become a central issue, especially in the race for the attorney general’s office.

Ellison, a Democrat, is locked in a tight battle with Republican challenger Ron Schutz, who in an MPR debate on Oct. 2 said Ellison had not done a good job combating fraud. Schutz said he “would allocate more resources to fighting fraud.”

Schutz has been running TV ads attacking Ellison’s record on fraud, and in the MPR debate called Minnesota the “Land of 10,000 frauds,” with a nod to the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case that...

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