Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Friday a settlement has been reached in his lawsuit that accuses a Maplewood man of engaging in a “deceptive pattern” through his five nonprofits and one for-profit business — all of which have government-sounding names — as a means “to sow confusion for his own gain.”

David Singleton (Courtesy of David Singleton)

The consent judgment, filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court, dissolves David Singleton’s nonprofits named in the Jan. 30 lawsuit and bans him from incorporating or serving as an officer or director of nonprofits in the future. It also bans Singleton from advertising that his for-profit business, Midwest Arbitration and Special Conciliation Authority Inc., can provide legal services.

In addition, Singleton must pay back the $5,000 the lawsuit says he took from a New Ulm, Minn., woman as payment for legal services he could not legally provide.

A judge will need to sign off on the settlement.

Singleton, 55, is the founder and president of the nonprofits Minnesota Civilian Public Safety Commission Inc., DWI Prevention Services Inc., and Minnesota Police Reserve Officers Association, and president of League of Minnesota Human Rights Commissions, and United Criminal Justice Reform Commission.

The lawsuit maintained that none of the organizations abided by the requirements of the Minnesota Nonprofit Corporation Act, and used images, words and verbiage to “confuse and mislead Minnesota citizens as to the organizations’ affiliation with a government agency.”

Singleton also used one of his nonprofits’ websites to direct Minnesotans to his for-profit “legal consulting” business, despite not having a license to practice law in Minnesota or any other state, according to the lawsuit, which alleges violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

“It is deeply disappointing when nonprofits are used to deceive, as this risks undermining public trust in charitable organizations generally,” Ellison said in a Friday statement. “Fear of trickery should never stand between Minnesotans and contributing to a cause they believe in.”

Singleton will be liable for an additional $100,000 if he violates any condition of the agreement.

He did not respond to a request for comment on the settlement Friday, and an attorney is not listed in the court file.

Complaints from government agencies

The attorney general’s office said its charities division began investigating Singleton, his organizations and business after receiving complaints from government agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

The agency said that Singleton’s similar-sounding League of Minnesota Human Rights Commissions name and government images on its website confused people into contacting the League for help when they meant to contact the state agency.

The lawsuit said the investigation found violations of the Minnesota Nonprofit Corporation Act for “failure to perform any activities that meet the organizations’ nonprofit purpose, lack of board of directors, no annual board meetings, failure to maintain financial records, and breaches of an officer’s fiduciary duties.”

In March 2022, a Minnesota Civilian Public Safety Commission “commissioner” opened a Capital One credit card for the nonprofit and added Singleton as an authorized user.

Singleton made over 60 purchases on the card, most of which did not appear to have a nonprofit purpose, including purchases at liquor stores, drug stores, restaurants and gas stations, the lawsuit alleges. After payments on the account stopped for eight months, the account was suspended and Capital One referred the account to its recoveries department with a balance of $1,480.77.

The lawsuit also alleges deceptive solicitation of donations by using names, verbiage and images to create confusion of a government affiliation.

Until the attorney general’s office began its investigation, Singleton’s Civilian Public Safety Commission used the website mncivilianpublicsafety.org to advertise itself, displaying images commonly associated with government agencies, including a picture of the Minnesota State Capitol and Minnesota state seal.

Midwest Arbitration’s Facebook page, meanwhile, showed Singleton wearing what appeared to be a judge’s robe.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The clock had not yet hit 4 a.m. when Justin Brazeau’s alarm blared and he began the roughly 3,000-mile journey from Raleigh, N.C., where his Boston Bruins were set to play on Thursday night, to the Pacific Coast, where he would make his Minnesota Wild debut on Friday versus the Canucks.

While there was months of speculation about one or both of the Brocks from Minnesota — Nelson, from Warroad, and Boeser, from Burnsville — coming “home” to the Wild, Nelson went to Colorado and Boeser stayed put in Vancouver. The additions of Brazeau and Gustav Nyquist a week earlier were the only real moves that Wild general manager Bill Guerin made.

Guerin and the Wild stand by the idea that a trio of significant injured players — Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin — will return before the regular season ends, and they will take a full, healthy roster into the playoffs.

With the trade deadline in the past, here are a few things of note from moves made, and not made, by the Wild and their rivals.

Size matters

Brazeau is officially listed as 6-foot-6, but some pundits were claiming he’s even 6-7 after Guerin acquired a second notably big body. In December, the Wild swung a deal with Columbus to bring hulking defense project David Jiricek to Minnesota. It’s clear that size is a consideration as the Wild build for what they hope is a multi-year window of Stanley Cup contention.

“For his role, he’s got good numbers; 10 goals 10 assists,” Guerin said of Brazeau. “He’s got size. He’s good around the net. I just think the size really helps us.”

Wild coach John Hynes said Brazeau’s right-hand shot, and his hulking body, will be nice additions to the roster.

“The right shot was important,” Hynes said during the team’s morning skate at Rogers Arena on Friday. “We do think some of the size and puck skills that Braz has, I think those are things probably most importantly just maybe the fit of the players versus anything else.”

Central collisions

While the Wild were making relatively quiet moves, three of their Central Division rivals made notable revisions to their rosters.

Colorado added Nelson and former Wild forward Charlie Coyle. Dallas grabbed headlines by bringing in scoring star Mikko Rantanen, who began the season in Colorado, had a brief stint in Carolina, and now is back in the Western Conference. And division-leading Winnipeg grabbed Brandon Tanev and Brayden Schenn, in a further show that the Jets are all-in.

With the Wild lacking cap space to make any major moves without a dollar-for-dollar trade, or placing a player on long-term injured reserve, Guerin didn’t have many cards to play on Friday morning. He said it was reminiscent of free agency in the summer of 2024, when dead money limited his options.

“You want to be involved, but you know what, we’re just at a different stage than those teams. We’ll have our day,” Guerin said. “It was the same thing this summer when you’re watching other teams load up…But I think we’ll show up and play the games and see how it checks out.”

Hynes said he paid little attention to the moves of the Jets, Stars and Avalanche, and stressed the importance of having the right roster, not just the flashiest roster.

“It truly comes down to having the right 20 (players),” Hynes said. “You can add to your team and if it fits, it’s great. But I think you’ve seen some teams around the league can add a tremendous amount of players and free agents and things like that, and it doesn’t fit.”

Spending in the summer

There were roughly 60 minutes to go before the trade deadline when Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet called Boeser aside for a private conversation during the team’s morning skate. With rumors of a possible trade of the former North Dakota standout running rampant, those in attendance wondered if this was the moment.

It turns out that they were just talking power-play strategy, Tocchet said after practice, joking that he would have preferred to trade away most of the reporters who cover his team instead.

When free agency opens in the summer, the Wild will finally have the $14.7 million in dead money — left over from the 13-year Ryan Suter and Zach Parise contracts — off their books. And with the NHL raising its salary cap significantly, there will be money, and opportunity, to bring one or both of the Brocks back to their home state, if that interests Boeser and/or Nelson.

Guerin will almost certainly work to sign star forward Kirill Kaprizov to a long-term deal as well, which many expect to be in the $12 million or more per season range. With the Nyquist and Brazeau trades completed before deadline day, Guerin admitted Friday was a little slow for him, but he hinted that they will be bigger players in the summer.

“We got our business done earlier,” he said. “Would I have loved to have been in these bigger deals and stuff like that? Yeah, absolutely. It’s just not our time. Our time’s coming.”

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By CHRIS MEGERIAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of decisions revealed Friday provided a glimpse of the turmoil engulfing federal agencies since President Donald Trump and Elon Musk launched their campaign of disruption, upending how government functions in ways big and small.

Some changes appeared designed to increase political control over agencies that have historically operated with some degree of autonomy, such as requiring Environmental Protection Agency officials to seek approval from the Department of Government Efficiency for any contracts exceeding $50,000.

Other directives increased burdens on federal workers, who have already endured insults, layoffs and threats from the president and other top officials. For example, government credit cards issued to civilian employees at the Pentagon were altered to have a $1 limit, choking off their ability to travel for work.

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What to know about Social Security office closures driven by Musk’s DOGE

The Transportation Security Administration became another target. The administration canceled a collective bargaining agreement with 47,000 workers who screen travelers and luggage at airports around the country, eliminating union protections in a possible prelude to layoffs or privatization.

The cascading developments are only a fraction of the upheaval that’s taken place since Trump took office, but they still reshaped how hundreds of thousands of public servants do their jobs, with potentially enduring consequences. The ongoing shakeup is much more intense than the typical whiplash that Washington endures when one administration gives way to another, raising fundamental questions about how government will function under a president who has viewed civil servants as an obstacle to his agenda.

The White House has wrestled with political blowback over Musk’s role and legal challenges that have tried to block or slow down his work. Republicans who are facing growing pressure in contentious town halls have started to speak up.

“I will fully admit, I think Elon Musk has tweeted first and thought second sometimes,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., during a virtual meeting with constituents on Friday. “He has plunged ahead without necessarily knowing and understanding what he legally has to do or what he is going to be doing.”

Mistakes are being made

The overhaul of the federal government is happening at lightning speed, reflecting years of preparation by Trump’s allies and the president’s decision to grant Musk sweeping influence over his administration. Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur with no previous experience in public service, has shown no interest in slowing down despite admitting that he’ll make mistakes in his crusade to slash spending and downsize the workforce.

The government is facing even more dramatic changes in the coming weeks and months. Trump has directed agencies to prepare plans for widespread layoffs, known as reductions in force, that will likely require more limited operations at agencies that provide critical services.

The Department of Veterans Affairs could shed 80,000 employees, while the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration are considering plans that would cut their workforces in half.

Trump has vowed not to reduce Social Security benefits, but Democrats argue that layoffs would make it harder to deliver payments to 72.5 million people, including retirees and children.

There are also concerns that politics could interfere with Social Security. Trump has feuded over transgender issues with Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, and his administration recently said children born in the state would no longer have a Social Security number assigned at birth. Instead, parents would have to apply for one at a local office.

Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of Social Security, rescinded the order on Friday.

“In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent,” he said in a statement. Dudek added that “as a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.”

A startup mindset takes hold

More than a month after Trump took office, there’s still confusion about Musk’s authority. In public statements and legal filings, administration officials have insisted that Musk does not actually run DOGE and has no direct authority over budgets.

But Trump has contradicted both statements. He said Tuesday that DOGE is “headed by Elon Musk” in a prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress, and he said Thursday that “Elon will do the cutting” if agency leaders don’t reduce their spending.

Their approach has energized people like David Sacks, a venture capitalist serving as a Trump adviser on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, who praised the administration as moving “faster than any startup that I’ve been part of.”

Trump denied reports of friction between Musk and Cabinet officials, particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a meeting Thursday.

“Elon gets along great with Marco,” the president said. The State Department had no immediate comment.

Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, an organization that has been suing the Trump administration, said the president “made clear that Musk and DOGE have been calling the shots.”

Musk serves as a presidential adviser, not a Senate-confirmed official, which Eisen argued makes his role unconstitutional. He said Trump’s comments are “an admission that the vast chaos that Musk and DOGE have wrought without proper approval and documentation is illegal — and so must be completely unwound.”

Trump is using executive orders to reshape government

Many of the changes sweeping through Washington were ignited by Trump’s executive orders. One order issued last week said agencies must develop new systems for distributing and justifying payments so they can be monitored by DOGE representatives.

The EPA distributed guidance intended to ensure compliance.

“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction (valued at) $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,” said the documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the involvement of Musk’s “unvetted, inexperienced team raises serious concerns about improper external influence on specialized agency decision-making.”

Republicans have shied away from holding town hall meetings with constituents after critics started using them to vent their frustration.

Some protesters gathered outside Huizenga’s district office in Holland, Michigan, calling on him to answer questions in person.

“I would like to ask him why he thinks that someone like Musk can go in and simply blow up agencies without seemingly even knowing what they’re doing,” said Linda Visscher, a Holland resident.

She said increasing the efficiency of government was a good idea, but she doesn’t agree with “just taking the blowtorch to it.”

Associated Press reporters Lolita Baldor, Matthew Daly, Fatima Hussein and Matthew Lee in Washington; Joey Cappelletti in Holland, Michigan; and Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.