The lead prosecutor behind the high-profile Feeding Our Future fraud trials has been named the acting United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota.

Joseph H. Thompson replaces acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick, who's been in the position since January when the now-former U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger left the office before Trump's inauguration.

"I am honored and humbled to be asked to lead the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota," Thompson said in a statement. "I look forward to continuing our office's work combatting violent crime, the scourge of fentanyl and other deadly drugs, and the shocking and unacceptable levels of fraud in our state government programs."

As chief of the fraud and public corruption section of the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, Thompson shepherded the trial that ended in convictions for leaders of one of the largest pandemic-related fraud cases in the country.

A federal jury in March found Feeding Our Future executive director Aimee Bock, considered the face of the scheme, and her alleged accomplice, Salim Said, guilty on all counts for their roles in the $250 million federal investigation. The five-week trial saw more than 30 witnesses.

Jurors reached their verdict after only five hours of deliberation, a swift decision that Thompson at the time said speaks to the investigative work from the prosecution. Last week, federal charges were brought against the 71st defendant in the case for their role in the Feeding Our Future scam.

Thompson and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bobier asked the court to keep Hibo Daar jailed after her arrest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during an apparent attempt to flee the country once news broke about search warrants at another site under investigation in the fraud plot.

Thompson, a Minnesota native who joined the state's U.S. Attorney's Office in 2014, previously served as a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois. From 2009 to 2014, he oversaw prosecutions in Chicago involving "street gangs, drug cartels, corrupt politicians and domestic terrorists," according to a news release.

From 2023 to 2024, he assisted in the investigation of classified documents found at the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and former President Joe Biden's residence in Delaware.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Thompson's accolades include working in private practice in Chicago, serving as a law clerk and teaching law school for more than a decade, including at the University of Minnesota Law school.

He graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College and earned a law degree from Stanford Law School.

In early May, Trump named attorney Daniel Rosen as his permanent choice for Minnesota's top federal prosecutor, a decision that remains pending approval in the U.S. Senate.

Rosen served more than 30 years as an attorney specializing in commercial litigation, focusing on eminent-domain matters. His name emerged as a candidate over the Minnesota Republican congressional delegation's other nominees: Ronald Schutz, a longtime trial attorney and chair of the board for former Gov. Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign, and Erica MacDonald, who Trump first appointed as U.S. Attorney for Minnesota during his first term.