MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Thompson, the leading federal prosecutor and public voice on uncovering rampant fraud in Minnesota, has resigned from the U.S. attorney’s office.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the United States and this office,” Thompson wrote in an email obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune. He did not give any reason for his resignation or indication of where he is going next. He did not respond to initial requests for comment.

Thompson’s resignation was followed by other senior members of the office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Jacobs, chief of the criminal division and second in command on fraud cases. Jacobs was instrumental in prosecuting the Feeding Our Future trial and was part of the team prosecuting Vance Boelter for his politically motivated rampage.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melinda Williams, former criminal chief and counsel to the U.S. attorney, is also among the departures. Thompson, Jacobs and Williams represent the top three ranking prosecutors in the office. Sources said that six attorneys have resigned, so far.

Thompson was appointed acting U.S. attorney of Minnesota by President Donald Trump in May 2025 and served in that role for six months until Daniel Rosen took office as U.S. attorney last October. Thompson was the lead prosecutor in the sprawling Feeding Our Future food fraud case.

Thompson covered several other high-profile cases during his brief tenure, including filing federal charges against Boelter in the assassination of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and attempted killing of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

But Thompson has been most notable for uncovering fraud throughout the state. “Our state is far and away the leader in fraud now, and everyone sees it,” Thompson told the Minnesota Star Tribune editorial board last year. He has claimed that the fraud is in the billions — a number that has been heavily contested by Gov. Tim Walz.

In a statement, Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara lamented the loss of Thompson from the U.S. attorney’s office.

“The legitimacy of the justice system depends on institutions — not rhetoric," O’Hara said. “Joe Thompson is an institution within law enforcement.”

O’Hara said the fact that Thompson is leaving at the same time the federal government is using fraud investigations to justify a surge of ICE agents is notable.

“When you lose the leader responsible for making the fraud cases, it tells you this (immigration enforcement) isn’t really about prosecuting fraud,” O’Hara said.

In an internal email, Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney Rosen directed staff to “say nothing” about the FBI’s investigation into Good’s shooting, specifically to law enforcement and media. Only assistant U.S. attorneys designated by him may speak to investigators about the federal probe, he wrote.

“The shooting investigation is highly sensitive,” Rosen wrote. “It has been the subject of continuing inflammatory statements by state and local elected officials.”

Thompson has been considered a potential political candidate and is rumored to be a candidate for a new position with the Department of Justice that would oversee a multiagency effort to investigate fraud in the United States.

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