{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-presents-squeal-award-to-the-shady-bunch-families-who-make-fraud-a-family-affair", "Ernst Presents Squeal Award to the Shady Bunch, Families Who Make Fraud a Family Affair", "2026-08-20", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "IA", "Joni Ernst", "E000295", "www.ernst.senate.gov", "ernst", "https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) announced her August Squeal Award recipient: fraudster families who make a living scamming hardworking Americans.\n\nErnst is exposing 15 families who collectively stole $50 million taxpayer dollars and has introduced the No Cash for Cohabitating Kins of Crooks Act to prohibit government loans, contracts, grants, or other financial payments going to anyone living with a known fraudster or convicted criminal.\n\n\u201cCommitting fraud is literally all relative for these families of felons,\u201d said Ernst. \u201cWhile some families have a tradition of running 5Ks on holidays, fraud runs in these families\u2014they\u2019ll steal $5K or more and then make a run for it. My latest investigation found schemes sprouting from family trees across the country, with kin teaming up to rip off taxpayers to the tune of $50 million. That\u2019s why I\u2019m giving my August 2026 Squeal Award to the \u2018Shady Bunch,\u2019 families full of fraudsters who are chips off the old cell block. Their next scam-ily reunion will be in the slammer.\u201d\n\nSome of the most egregious examples include:\n\nThe now-infamous Mohamed family operating out of Minnesota stole more than $10 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program. Instead of feeding hungry kids, the family of felons spent the money on themselves.\n\nOne California clan of crooks made off with $18 million in COVID relief, using fake names and stolen identities to obtain taxpayer money that funded luxury homes, gold coins, diamonds, designer goods and even a Harley-Davidson. After their convictions, several family members cut off their tracking devices and fled the country before eventually being caught.\n\nFour sisters fleeced the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of more than $11.5 million by submitting nearly 200 bogus discrimination claims from fake farmers. The daughter of one sister helped the scheme by notarizing fictitious witness statements.\n\nA Florida family used a sham ministry to obtain more than $8 million in pandemic aid, then attempted to use the money to buy a multi-million-mansion at Walt Disney World Resort. When authorities closed in, the family was caught in a Mercedes SUV packed with bags of shredded documents.\n\nRead the bill here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-21T05:30:57Z", "2026-08-21T05:32:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-presents-squeal-award-to-the-shady-bunch-families-who-make-fraud-a-family-affair"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8107251487672329, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}