In December 2025, the independent journalist and YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a 43-minute video (archived) titled "I Investigated Minnesota's Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal," in which he claimed that daycare centers for children in Minnesota run by Somali Americans received millions of dollars in fraudulent payments of taxpayer money without providing actual child care services.
Shirley's video investigated daycares and health centers he alleged received public funds without offering contracted services. Snopes readers wrote in asking whether Shirley's claims about how much taxpayer money seemingly empty daycares had received were true. Social media users also discussed the video on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), X (archived), Reddit (archived) and Bluesky (archived).
Shirley's central claim was that daycare centers run by Somali Americans received money from the Minnesota Child Care Assistance Program and other, unspecified public funding, despite not actually providing child care services, meaning looking after children on their premises. CCAP is a federal, state and county-funded benefits program that helps families cover the cost of child care. The figures Shirley claimed were lost to fraud — up to $3.6 million for a single daycare center and more than $27 million since fiscal year 2020 — came from "David," a Minneapolis local who had researched the alleged fraud and used figures compiled from "research done by people at the state capitol."
Snopes could not independently verify whether the nine daycare centers featured in Shirley's video had fraudulently received CCAP or public funds or were run by Somali Americans. A spokesperson for Minnesota's Department of Children, Youth, and Families said in a written statement on Jan. 2, 2026:
This week, as part of our ongoing commitment to oversight, OIG investigators conducted on-site compliance checks at nine child care centers referenced in a recently circulated video. Investigators confirmed the centers were operating as expected, gathered evidence and initiated further review. Children were present at all sites except for one -- that site, was not yet open for families for the day when inspectors arrived.
According to the DCYF, the CCAP figures in Shirley's report were broadly correct, though DCYF did not allege that any of the daycares in the video had committed fraud. The DCYF had "ongoing investigations" at four of the centers according to its statement. It was unclear whether those investigations were related to fraud or other aspects of the business such as licensing.
Given the above, we have left this claim unrated.
We contacted Shirley asking to access the figures featured in his report. We also contacted a Minnesota House of Representatives employee who appeared to have emailed funding figures for two daycare centers to David related to Shirley's investigation. We await replies to our queries.
In May 2026, federal prosecutors unsealed fraud charges against Fahima Mahamoud, who they alleged fraudulently received millions of dollars from the U.S. government, including in CCAP funds, while running one of the daycares Shirley visited in his video. That case was ongoing at the time of this writing, and the daycare had closed.
Child care grants allegedly key to daycare fraud
Shirley and David's investigation alleged that one of the ways Somali American-run daycare centers defrauded the public purse was through receiving CCAP funds.
According to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families website, CCAP uses public money to support families with child care costs. Families who are eligible for the benefit register their child with a participating provider that then bills the state for that child's fees. The state decides the level of fees that CCAP will cover.
In December 2025, an expenditures forecast by the Minnesota DHS showed CCAP cost $157 million in fiscal year 2025, and that the state paid about a third of that money.
Shirley visited nine daycare centers across four ZIP codes in Minneapolis in his video. According to figures provided by David, those centers had received at least $17,986,049 in government funding, including CCAP, in fiscal year 2025. Some had received funding since at least fiscal year 2020, totaling at least $27,544,654 across the facilities.
According to the DCYF's Jan. 2 statement, CCAP contributions to the nine operating daycares in the video amounted to $17,361,787 in fiscal year 2025. The DCYF figures for the individual daycares broadly matched Shirley's figures, though the DCYF did not allege that the money was fraudulently stolen.
DCYF reported a significantly lower CCAP payment to Superkids Daycare Center, previously Creative Minds Daycare. According to Shirley, Creative Minds Daycare had received $2.45 million in fiscal year 2025 before shutting down and reopening as Superkids Daycare Center. DCYF reported that Superkids Daycare Center had received only $471,787 in CCAP payments in fiscal year 2025. It did not report any CCAP funding figures for Creative Minds Daycare.
According to ParentAware, a Minnesota DCYF website that hosts a child care facility lookup tool, all nine of the operating daycares in Shirley's video were registered with either CCAP and/or were eligible for Early Learning Scholarships. ELS is another publicly funded assistance program that helps families cover the cost of child care. Families can use ELS alongside CCAP as the programs have different eligibility criteria.
Three of the daycares featured in the video were eligible for ELS but did not participate in CCAP. Eight of the nine centers appeared to have active Minnesota DHS licenses, according to the DHS license lookup
By May 2026, unsealed court records revealed that federal prosecutors had charged Mahamoud, who they said was the CEO of Future Leaders, with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
Prosecutors claimed that between October 2022 and December 2025, Mahamoud fraudulently received $4.6 million from the government through CCAP but did not collect co-payments from families.
Minnesota CCYP said via email on Jan. 2, 2026, that Future Leaders had received $3.68 million in CCAP in fiscal year 2025.
Mahamoud's case was ongoing at the time of this writing.
Increased focus on Minnesota Somali Americans
Neither Minnesota DHS nor DCYF had confirmed Shirley's allegations of fraud at the time of this writing. Snopes could not independently verify Shirley's claims that the daycares allegedly committing fraud were run or owned by Somali Americans.
Shirley's video circulated amid several investigations into large-scale fraud in the North Star State. Earlier in December 2025, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said at a news conference that half or more of $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 Minnesota-run Medicare and Medicaid programs since 2018 may have been stolen through fraud. Eighty-two of the 92 defendants charged in the case were Somali Americans, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, prosecutors charged dozens of defendants in the Feeding our Future scheme, which the U.S. attorney's office in the District of Minnesota called "the largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in the country," estimating that fraudsters stole $300 million in public funds by claiming to provide meals to children. Local news media reported that "most of" the defendants in that case were also of Somali descent.
On May 21, 2026, a federal judge in Minnesota sentenced Aimee Bock, the founder and leader of the Feeding Our Future scheme, to nearly 42 years in prison and ordered her to pay $243 million in restitution for her role in the fraudulent scheme.
Federal prosecutors in the ongoing case against Mahamoud also claimed she had participated in the Feeding our Future scheme and been paid more than $850,000, only a "fraction" of which she used to pay for food for children.
President Donald Trump has also made pointed comments about Somali Americans in Minnesota, calling immigrants from the African country "garbage" and saying he wanted them sent "back to where they came from."