Exposing the Minnesota Daycare Fraud Scandal

In late December 2025, independent journalist and YouTuber Nick Shirley thrust Minnesota’s ongoing social services fraud crisis into the national spotlight with a viral on-the-ground investigation.

Shirley’s 42-minute video, titled “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal,” documented visits to multiple childcare facilities in Minneapolis that appeared completely empty during business hours, despite receiving millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies through the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).

The video has amassed over 116 million views on X alone, drawing responses from high-profile figures like Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN).

At the center of Shirley’s exposé was the Quality Learing Center (note the misspelling of “Learning” on its signage) in South Minneapolis.

Licensed for up to 99 children, the facility showed no signs of activity— no playground equipment, no children, and no visible operations, yet it reportedly received $1.9 million in tax-exempt CCAP funding in fiscal year 2025 alone.

Sources cited by Shirley and corroborated by state records indicate the center has collected millions more since 2019, including up to $7.8 million in federal funds overall. The center has faced numerous violations (95 between 2019 and 2023, per Minnesota Department of Human Services records), ranging from safety issues to missing child records, but remained licensed until recent scrutiny.

Shirley and his team visited several similar facilities, many operated by members of Minnesota’s Somali community, tallying over $110 million in combined CCAP payments in a single day of research. Confrontations at sites included staff mistaking investigators for ICE agents and refusing entry, fueling claims of “open and blatant fraud.” Shirley described these as part of “hundreds” of questionable daycares exploiting lax oversight.

This daycare controversy builds on a broader pattern of alleged fraud in Minnesota’s welfare and social services programs, disproportionately involving Somali-American individuals and entities. The most notorious case remains the Feeding Our Future scandal, where a nonprofit defrauded the Federal Child Nutrition Program of approximately $250 million during the COVID-19 pandemic by claiming to serve millions of meals that never materialized. Over 78 defendants, mostly of Somali descent, have been charged, with dozens convicted.

Federal prosecutors, including First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, have expanded probes into related programs (e.g., autism therapy, housing stabilization, and Medicaid services), estimating potential losses across 14 state-run initiatives since 2018 at $9 billion or more, described as “industrial-scale fraud.”

Many charged individuals are from the Somali community, though not all fraud is exclusively tied to it. Immigrant-rights advocates argue the focus risks scapegoating an entire diaspora, while officials like FBI Director Patel emphasize dismantling schemes regardless of origin, with threats of denaturalization and deportation for convicted non-citizens.

The scale has drawn stark comparisons: Some commentators, including Shirley, note that the alleged $9 billion in stolen funds approaches or exceeds Somalia’s entire GDP, estimated at around $12-13 billion in 2024-2025 by sources like the World Bank and IMF.

Critics, including President Trump and Rep. Emmer, blame inadequate oversight under Gov. Tim Walz (D), pointing to delayed responses and past accusations of discrimination that chilled investigations. State officials, however, have countered that fraud predates the current administration and that new audits and a “fraud prevention program” are addressing vulnerabilities.

As FBI resources surge into Minnesota and congressional hearings loom, Shirley’s grassroots reporting has amplified calls for accountability.

While specific centers like the Quality Learing Center face no formal charges yet, the episode highlights systemic gaps in verifying services for vulnerable populations, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for what appear to be “ghost” operations.

Ongoing federal investigations will determine the full extent, but the scandal serves as a cautionary tale of how relaxed pandemic-era rules and oversight failures can enable massive abuse of public trust.

Thank you for your support.

If you appreciate the work we do to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, please consider giving a gift to help us continue this work. Maranatha!