A 23-year-old YouTuber with a camera walked into eight Minneapolis daycares last week. Most were empty. No kids. No toys. No playground equipment. Just locked doors, blacked-out windows, and adults who slammed doors in his face.
Those eight daycares had collected $27 million in government money since 2020.
Nick Shirley’s 43-minute video dropped on December 26th. By Monday, it had 116 million views on X. By Tuesday, the federal government froze all childcare payments to Minnesota. And now we’re learning this might be the smallest piece of a fraud problem so massive that federal prosecutors are throwing around a number that seems impossible: $9 billion.
That’s billion with a B.
Meanwhile Little Joey still can’t attend daycare at any of the Somali fraudulent “Learing” Centers.
What Nick Shirley’s Video Actually Shows
Shirley visited daycare centers across four Minneapolis zip codes. He brought a local researcher named David who had pulled publicly available payment data from state websites.
At one location called “Quality Learing Center” (yes, that’s how it was spelled on the sign), the windows were covered. The building looked abandoned. Records showed it was licensed for 99 children and had received about $4 million in state funding over several years. A neighbor told Shirley she hadn’t seen children there in eight years.
At another center, Shirley walked in and found adults sitting around. No children anywhere. When he asked where the kids were, a woman slammed the door.
He repeated this at location after location. The pattern was the same. Buildings that looked inactive. Few or no children visible. Staff who refused to answer questions. And payment records showing millions flowing to each site.
By the end of his single day of visits, Shirley had documented daycares that had received a combined $110 million in Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) funds.
The state’s response was telling. Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families said they had visited all eight facilities “at least once” in the past six months. Commissioner Tikki Brown said two of the centers had already closed, though one later said it planned to stay open. Brown admitted her department couldn’t tell federal officials “with confidence” whether the fraud was isolated or statewide.
The Bigger Picture Nobody Wants to Talk About
Here’s what most coverage is missing. Shirley’s video isn’t the story. It’s just the latest chapter.
Two weeks before his video dropped, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson stood at a podium in Minneapolis and said something that should have led every newscast in America. He said that half or more of the $18 billion in federal funds sent to 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen.
Half. Of eighteen billion dollars.
Thompson called it “staggering, industrial-scale fraud.” He said Minnesota had become a “national poster child for public corruption.” He described “fraud tourism,” where scammers from other states traveled to Minnesota specifically because the programs were so easy to exploit. Two guys from Philadelphia allegedly drove to Minnesota, enrolled fake companies, drove home, and submitted $3.5 million in fraudulent claims from Pennsylvania.
The federal investigation now spans 14 different programs: childcare, housing assistance, autism therapy for children, home health services, Medicaid, and more. The FBI has “surged” resources to Minnesota. Homeland Security is on the ground. The Small Business Administration froze payments and is investigating $430 million in suspected PPP fraud.
And it all traces back to one nonprofit that most Americans have never heard of.
Feeding Our Future: The $250 Million Blueprint
The playbook for Minnesota’s fraud explosion was written during COVID.
Feeding Our Future was a small nonprofit that helped distribute federal meal program funds to sites that fed children. Before the pandemic, it handled about $3 million per year. By 2021, that number had exploded to nearly $200 million.
Here’s how the scam worked.
During COVID, the federal government loosened oversight requirements to get money out faster. Sponsors like Feeding Our Future could submit meal reimbursement claims without the normal verification. The organization’s founder, Aimee Bock (who is white, a detail that matters for reasons I’ll explain), started approving meal sites at a suspicious pace.
One restaurant that reported $600,000 in revenue before the pandemic suddenly claimed to be serving 5,000 children per day, seven days a week. At its peak, Feeding Our Future listed 299 “meal sites” that claimed to serve 90 million meals in under two years. One site the FBI surveilled claimed 6,000 meals per day but actually averaged 40 visitors.
Federal prosecutors say only about 3% of the money actually went to food. The rest funded luxury cars, lakefront homes, a honeymoon in a private villa in the Maldives, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and a suite at a Timberwolves game.
The Minnesota Department of Education saw the red flags. They tried to stop payments. They labeled Feeding Our Future “severely deficient” in December 2020.
Bock sued the state. She claimed the investigation was racial discrimination because her sites primarily served minority communities. A judge ordered the state to keep processing applications. He said there could be a “real problem” if they didn’t.
Payments continued for another year until the FBI finally raided Feeding Our Future in January 2022.
Bock was convicted on seven charges including wire fraud and bribery in March 2025. Of the 78 people charged in the scheme, 82 of the 92 defendants across all the related fraud cases are Somali American. Prosecutors have recovered only $60 million of the $250 million stolen.
Why State Officials Couldn’t (or Wouldn’t) Stop It
I’ve read the audits. I’ve read the court documents. And here’s the uncomfortable truth that nobody in government wants to admit.
The fraud didn’t happen because of sophisticated criminals. It happened because state agencies were afraid to act.
A 2024 report from Minnesota’s Office of Legislative Auditor said the state “created opportunities for fraud” by missing warning signs and failing to address complaints. Officials raised concerns internally. They saw the red flags. But they kept approving payments anyway.
Why?
The audit documents internal explanations: fear of lawsuits, accusations of racial discrimination, and “negative public scrutiny” if funding were denied. A Somali American investigator for the Attorney General’s office named Kayseh Magan said accusations of racism made against state agencies “led to hesitancy in taking action.”
This isn’t speculation. It’s in the official record.
When Feeding Our Future was under investigation, Bock accused the state of discriminating against the Somali community. She filed a lawsuit. A judge sided with her. Payments continued. The FBI later found the whole operation was fraud.
The pattern repeated across other programs. The Housing Stabilization Services program got so bad that prosecutors say it attracted “fraud tourists” from other states. The Integrated Community Supports program for disabled adults went from $4.6 million in payments in 2021 to $170 million in 2024. Prosecutors believe much of it is fraud.
And for years, the state kept paying.
The Trump Administration’s Response
The political response has been swift and aggressive.
On Tuesday, HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill announced the federal government was freezing all childcare payments to Minnesota. “We have turned off the money spigot,” he wrote on X. The Administration for Children and Families sends Minnesota $185 million in childcare funds annually.
Starting immediately, all childcare payments nationwide will require “a justification and a receipt or photo evidence before we send money to a state.”
HHS also launched a fraud reporting hotline at childcare.gov and demanded a comprehensive audit from Governor Tim Walz, including attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations, and inspections for every center shown in Shirley’s video.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had already “surged” investigative resources to Minnesota before Shirley’s video went viral. “The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg,” he posted on X.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said DHS agents were “conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” Agents visited approximately 30 businesses in Minneapolis on Monday.
The Treasury Department announced it will investigate claims that Minnesota Medicaid funds made their way to al-Shabab, the Somali terrorist group. (Prosecutors have said they’ve found no evidence of terrorist funding so far, noting defendants used the money for personal luxury goods, not radicalization.)
The Small Business Administration suspended funding to Minnesota to investigate $430 million in suspected PPP fraud.
What Happens to Minnesota Families Now
Here’s what nobody in Washington is talking about.
Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program serves roughly 23,000 children from low-income families. Real children with real parents who rely on subsidized daycare so they can work.
The federal payment freeze affects them too.
HHS did not announce any alternate plans for families affected by the freeze. Governor Walz pushed back on X, calling the move part of “Trump’s long game” while acknowledging that fraudsters are a serious problem the state has been “cracking down on for years.”
The reality is messier than either side admits. There are legitimate daycares serving real children who will now face uncertainty. And there are apparently fake daycares that collected millions while serving nobody. The state seems unable to tell which is which.
That’s the actual scandal here.
The Political Fault Lines
I’d be lying if I pretended this wasn’t political.
President Trump has made Minnesota’s fraud cases a centerpiece of his immigration debate. He’s called Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and said Somalis have “ripped off that state for billions of dollars.” Earlier this month, he ended Temporary Protected Status for some Somali refugees. All strong moves until the full details of Somali fraud is uncovered.
Republican Congressman Tom Emmer posted on social media that he has “three words regarding Somalis who have committed fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home.”
Democrats have defended state officials, noting they brought suspicions to the FBI in early 2021 and that a judge’s order prevented them from stopping Feeding Our Future payments. Walz has said he’ll “take responsibility” for mistakes while pointing out that federal COVID guidance was to “move the money.” Waltz track record as Governor is becoming worse by the day.
Somali community leaders argue the fraud cases, while real, are being used to stigmatize an entire community. Most Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens. The majority have nothing to do with fraud. However those who are angry have every right to be, and they have the right to be angry about the fraud while not being accused of making this about race. This is a fraud issue.
What We Still Don’t Know
The federal investigation is ongoing. More charges are expected. Several defendants have already fled the country.
Some key questions remain unanswered.
How much money was actually stolen? Thompson’s estimate of “half or more” of $18 billion is an estimate, not a confirmed figure. The actual number will only emerge through audits and prosecutions. Walz accused Thompson of speculation and “sensationalism.”
Were the daycares in Shirley’s video actually fraudulent? The state says it had inspected them in the past six months and found no evidence of fraud. But the state also admits some have closed, and one apparently can’t explain whether it’s open or not. The FBI is now investigating. The state appears incompetent.
Where did the money go? Prosecutors have documented real estate purchases in Kenya, Turkey, and across the United States. They’ve traced funds to China. They’ve recovered only a fraction of what was stolen.
Will there be systemic reforms? Minnesota passed fraud prevention measures in 2025. Walz appointed a “director of program integrity” on December 12th. Whether these changes prevent future fraud or just create new paperwork remains to be seen.
The Real Lesson Here
I’ve covered fraud stories before. They usually involve one bad actor gaming a system. This is different.
What happened in Minnesota wasn’t a few criminals outsmarting the government. It was the government watching obvious fraud happen and choosing not to act. It was oversight agencies afraid of being called racist. It was a nonprofit suing the state for trying to investigate, and winning. It was COVID-era rules that prioritized speed over verification.
And it was a state that kept paying even when the numbers made no sense.
Nick Shirley’s video showed empty daycares. But the real story is the system that paid them for years.
The federal crackdown is happening now. The FBI is surging resources. HHS has frozen payments. Audits are coming.
But here’s the question nobody wants to answer: How deep does this problem go? How much have hard working Minnesotans have been defrauded by Somalian scammers? How many other states have the same problems? And who’s checking?
Thompson said Minnesota became a “magnet for fraud” partly because word spread that the programs were easy marks. If scammers from Philadelphia were flying to Minnesota to cash in, what does that tell you about the systems in their own states?
The money spigot is off in Minnesota. Tim Waltz has shown next level incompetence. But the underlying problems, fear of litigation, fear of discrimination accusations, bureaucratic inertia, and programs designed without fraud prevention built in, exist everywhere.
Most likely this isn’t just a Minnesota story. We just happened to find it in Minneapolis first.
