"They are not going to talk about it, but they are doing it,'' Andrew McDonald, Malloy's chief legal counsel told me Tuesday evening. "We are regularly being contacted by the prosecutors and we are sharing information with them on a regular basis."

Names of suspected state employees have been referred to federal and state investigators, he said.

"We are working with the United States Department of Agriculture, the chief state's attorney and the U.S. Attorney's office on their portion of the investigation,'' McDonald said. "Our investigation is focused on the fact that we are the employer of individuals who may have defrauded us." Federal food stamps are a USDA program.