Tag: fraud

Front Companies? Bombshell Report Exposes Network Of Somali-Linked “Empty” Daycares Across Minnesota

Left-wing Governor Tim Walz, under intensifying federal pressure, faces a widening Somali-linked fraud scandal in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors state that the scheme currently totals at least $9 billion, with the final figure potentially much higher. Recent reporting by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo alleges that some welfare funds were funneled into an overseas terrorist organization. Now, a bombshell video from a citizen journalist suggests the fraud extends beyond Medicaid into the state’s daycare system.

A 42-minute bombshell video by journalist Nick Shirley and a local private investigator documents an on-the-ground investigation in Minneapolis that alleges massive, ongoing fraud in government-funded social services. The main focus is on Somali-owned businesses in child daycare, adult/autism care, home healthcare, and non-emergency medical transportation programs that draw from the taxpayer-funded Child Care Assistance Program.

Shirley claims his team uncovered more than $110 million in questionable payments to Somali-owned businesses on just the first day of their investigation, as part of a broader welfare fraud scandal totaling upwards of $9 billion.

Shirley and the investigator visited several childcare facilities that had no visible children, toys, or activities during peak hours. Staff could not answer basic questions about rates or licenses. Both were denied entry to the reception areas of these facilities:

  • Quality Learing Center: Licensed for 99 children; received $4 million over two years. Sign misspells “learning” as “learing”; no children visible, doors locked, no playground.
  • Future Leaders Early Learning Center: Licensed for 90 children; received $6.67 million over two years. Facility empty; staff evasive when asked about child numbers.
  • Mako Child Care and Mini Child Care Center (combined): Licensed for 120 children; received $1.3M (2020), $987K (2021), $714K (2022), $1.6M (2025). No children observed.
  • ABC Learning Center: Licensed for 40 children; nearly $3 million over three years. Blacked-out windows, no activity.
  • Sweet Angel Child Care: Licensed for 74 children; $1.26 million in 2025 alone.

Millions of taxpayer dollars went to one daycare company that could not even spell “learning” correctly…

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Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan wears hijab in solidarity with Somalis as feds probe multibillion-dollar fraud scandal

Minnesota’s lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan donned a hijab to express solidarity with Somalis in a local TV appearance amid federal and congressional investigations into fraudsters in their refugee community who bilked taxpayers out of as much as $9 billion.

“I am incredibly clear that the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said at Karmel Mall in Minneapolis alongside local officials in a video released by Somali TV of Minnesota on Thursday.

“I am here shopping today and just encourage other folks to show up, support our Somali businesses, support our immigrant neighbors, and I know that things are scary right now,” added Flanagan, a Catholic, while wearing the Islamic head covering.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), also a Catholic, fired back in a statement about Flanagan’s appearance that “anyone with common sense sees right through this stunt.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also held a news conference Tuesday denouncing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities — including at Karmel, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents reportedly detained four on Monday.

The US Treasury Department and a powerful House committee are currently probing Somali-linked organizations and other nonprofits in the state accused of defrauding taxpayers out of around half of the $18 billion in federal funding provided to Minnesota since 2018.

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Minn.’s Somali social-services scammers may have stolen $9 billion — nearly Somalia’s entire economy

A staggering $9 billion may have been stolen in Minnesota’s sprawling social-services scam orchestrated mainly by members of its Somali community — a figure nearly equivalent to the entire economy of Somalia.

The enormous new estimate is a nearly nine-fold increase from the swiped $1 billion previously suspected, according to federal prosecutors.

It also accounts for roughly half of the $18 billion in total federal funds provided to the Minnesota-run services since 2018, the feds said — as Democratic Gov. Tim Walz continues to take heat for his handling of the debacle.

By comparison to the $9 billion figure, Somalia’s entire GDP was under $12 billion last year, according to the World Bank.

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Somali fraud scheme exposes billions siphoned from US, one state set to crack down

The Somali immigrant fraud scandal in Minnesota has put an uncomfortable spotlight on foreign remittance payments schemes that siphon billions of dollars a year from America to overseas. Although national attention has been focused on Minnesota, another state is poised to launch a crackdown.

Missouri State Treasurer Vivek Malek told Just the News he is teaming up with the state legislature to impose new requirements that remittance payment businesses ensure that customers are lawfully in the United States before they can send money to foreign countries, and he hopes other states will follow suit.

Cutting off incentives for illegal immigrants

“Missouri is stepping up by cutting off one of the biggest remaining incentives for illegal immigration, which is unverified foreign money transfers, because the economy is something that drives everybody to come to the United States,” Malek said in a wide-ranging interview with the John Solomon Reports podcast this week. 

Malek said his research found that more than $200 billion leaves the United States annually through remittances, with Mexico alone receiving over $52 billion. Some sizable portion of that involves illegal immigrants, most of whom crossed the border during the Biden years.

“It has been found that at least $4.4 billion in remittances sent to Mexico have been tied to cartel money laundering through small wire transfers,” he said. “Cartels don’t sneak money across the border or throw the bag across the border. They wire it. And if we are serious about crushing cartels, we have to shut down their financial arteries.”

Malek, a lawful U.S. immigrant who worked 16 years to become a U.S. citizen, ran last year for the state treasurer’s job on a promise he would help President Donald Trump end the scourge of illegal immigration. Part of that effort includes stopping illegal immigrants from sending money overseas that they earned in the U.S. without paying taxes, he said.

“I’m making this distinction very clear: legal versus illegal immigration. I am all for legal immigration. I am not for illegal immigration. And what we saw is the diversity of the last four years, during the Biden administration, the floodgates were open on the southern border,” he explained.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, in conjunction with the House Committee on Homeland Security, reports that over 1.7 million known “gotaways” — illegal immigrants who have evaded Border Patrol — are now living in the interior of the United States without documentation and without having undergone any vetting by immigration officials. 

“We did not know who entered, who came, and then these people are working here. They undercut the paychecks of American citizens, and then we are just left with a bill on our hands, and then, without paying any taxes. This money is going out of the country [but] we do not know to where,” Malek added.

Just the News first reported in August 2024 that on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s watch, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were defrauded from social safety net programs intended to feed the hungry or help families with autistic children, with the perpetrators often being Somali immigrants in that state.

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Former Madera County worker arrested in CalFresh benefits theft case

55-year-old Leticia Mariscal, a former benefits eligibility worker in Madera County, has been arrested on charges of stealing over $40,000 in CalFresh benefits.

Investigators said she used the identities of more than 15 individuals, including the elderly and deceased.

U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced her arrest, saying she allegedly accessed county databases from December 2020 to April 2025 to carry out the scheme.

She reportedly approved benefits for these individuals, printed EBT cards in their names, and used the funds herself.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Madera County District Attorney’s Office, conducted the investigation.

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Former Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman’s Murder Is Now Very Suspect After Uncovering the Massive Fraud in Tim Walz’s State

The murder of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband is very suspect since the massive scandal in Minnesota involving the state’s social programs was uncovered. 

It looks like Democrat Melissa Hortman knew she was in big trouble when she was the only Democrat to vote against Tim Walz’s healthcare for illegals bill in Minnesota. She cried as she shared her position and admitted to stepping outside the Democrat initiated corrupt fence. “It’s almost like she knew what would happen next.

The former Minnesota Representative was gunned down with her husband days later.  The DOJ reported the following after they arrested the alleged murderer of Minnesota’s former congresswoman.

Vance Boelter, 57, has been indicted on six federal charges in connection with the stalking and murders of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, the stalking and shooting of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman, and the attempted shooting of their daughter Hope Hoffman, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.

“Vance Boelter planned and carried out a night of terror that shook Minnesota to its core,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “He carried out targeted political assassinations the likes of which have never been seen in Minnesota. We grieve with the Hortman family and continue to pray for the recovery of the Hoffmans. Today, a grand jury indicted Boelter with the most serious of federal charges for these heinous political assassinations. Let me be clear: Boelter will see justice.”

According to court documents, after extensive research and planning, Boelter embarked on a murderous rampage targeting Minnesota’s elected officials and their families. On June 14, 2025, the defendant disguised himself as a member of law enforcement and traveled to the homes of Democratic elected officials with the intent to intimidate and murder. Early that morning, the defendant traveled to the Hoffmans home in Champlin, Minnesota. By posing as a police officer, Boelter compelled the Hoffmans to answer their door. He then repeatedly shot Senator Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman and he attempted to shoot their daughter, Hope Hoffman.

The Gateway Pundit reported that the suspect in the shooting, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was appointed by Walz in 2019 to serve on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, and he also leads an international security firm.

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FBI Raided Secret Service Agent’s Home in Tax Fraud Probe

The FBI recently raided the home of a Secret Service agent on Vice President JD Vance’s detail in an alleged tax and wire fraud case involving millions of dollars in donations and grants.

In the alleged scheme, the agent accepted donations to a charity that purports to help inner-city youth and victims of domestic violence but didn’t provide the services it reported to the IRS, according to several knowledgeable sources in the Secret Service community.

The raid, which took place on or around Dec. 8, was the culmination of more than a year of work by a joint FBI-IRS investigation that the Secret Service joined in recent months, the sources said. Federal investigators have interviewed more than a dozen Secret Service agents, some of whom contributed to the nonprofit at the center of the probe, which is run by an agent on Vance’s detail.

The Secret Service has placed the agent on unpaid administrative leave and suspended his security clearance, signs that the agency considers the potential crimes and misconduct extremely serious, even though the individual has not been arrested, according to sources familiar with the matter.

RealClearPolitics has reached out to the USSS and has been told a statement is forthcoming.

The alleged fraud could further bruise the Secret Service, which is facing retention problems as it struggles to regain its once elite reputation after two Trump assassination attempts last year. In addition to potential criminal prosecution, the Secret Service agent could face internal insider threat allegations for demonstrating poor judgment and possible criminal intent.

“This is bigger than the 2012 prostitution scandal because agents are trained to investigate tax and bank wire fraud – anyone involved knew what they were doing was illegal,” one source remarked.

In 2012, more than a dozen Secret Service agents and other personnel were placed on administrative leave, and several were eventually fired after their superiors discovered they had hired prostitutes during a trip to Colombia to prepare for then-President Obama’s visit to the Summit of the Americas.

The agent whose home was raided is listed as the founder and chairman of the charity’s board of directors on tax documents filed with the IRS.

The charity in question purports to provide laptops to young inner-city youth in its “Laptops for Hope Program” – at least some of which are laptops donated by the Secret Service because they are beyond their warranties, according to knowledgeable sources. Investigators, however, are looking into whether laptops discovered in the basement of the agent’s home were ever donated to the youth or whether there were plans to do so.

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Minnesota Dem Tearfully Apologizes To Somalians After They Were Busted Stealing Billions

A Minnesota Democratic state senator apologized to the state’s Somali population following allegations that Somalis were responsible for committing billions in fraud.

Organizer Asad Aliwed put together the event Dec. 12 at the Irshad Islamic Center in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Eden Prairie Local News reported. Democratic state Sens. Ann Johnson Stewart and Steve Cwodzinski tearfully shared their apology and offered support to a mosque full of Somalians on Friday. They were accompanied by Eden Prairie Mayor Ron Case, who ran in a nonpartisan election.

“We are heartbroken by the horrible actions of our government, and we want you to know that at the state level, we will do all that we can to support you,” Stewart could be heard saying in a video shared by Somali TV of Minnesota.

“Whether you live in our district or not, we are here,” Stewart said through tears. “We are 100% committed to helping you. You are welcome here, you belong here and we are here for you. I apologize, I have to leave for another commitment.”

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SBA HALTS $5.5 MILLION in Funding to Minnesota After Explosive Findings Tie Somali Fraud Ring to Millions in PPP Loans

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has halted more than $5.5 million in annual federal funding to Minnesota after explosive findings revealed that individuals tied to the infamous $1 billion Somali fraud scheme also received millions in taxpayer-backed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced the funding freeze Tuesday in a scathing post on X, directly notifying Democrat Governor Tim Walz that his state can no longer be trusted with federal tax dollars.

Loeffler wrote on X:

Today, I informed Governor Tim Walz that SBA is halting $5.5 million in annual funding to Minnesota pending further review.

This action follows alarming findings: individuals indicted in the $1 billion Somali fraud scheme also received at least $3 million in PPP loans, and SBA has since identified 13,600 additional PPP loans in Minnesota – totaling $430 million – suspected as fraudulent.

With dozens of investigations underway, the conclusion is unavoidable: Minnesota cannot be trusted to administer federal tax dollars. Its socialist welfare system has enabled fraud at industrial scale, at the expense of honest Americans – and these are the consequences.

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Nearly 100 Minnesota Mayors Send Panicked Letter to Lawmakers Complaining About Fraud Scandal and the Leadership of Tim Walz

Almost 100 mayors in the state of Minnesota have sent a letter to state lawmakers complaining about the fraud scandal and how it is going to impact the communities they serve.

They are clearly not happy with the leadership of Governor Tim Walz and his connections to the fraud scandal that has rocked the state in recent weeks.

The scandal is still unfolding and it’s unclear what the final tally will be, but it’s looking like something in the tens of billions.

It’s shaping up to be the largest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history. Is there any wonder why these mayors are nervous?

FOX News reports:

98 Minnesota mayors warn state fiscal policies are hurting cities, residents and local budgets

A group of 98 Minnesota mayors raised concerns with state leaders in a letter about their state’s fiscal policies, saying they have impacted their cities and residents, noting a disappearing $18 billion surplus and a projected $2.9 billion to $3 billion deficit for the 2028-29 biennium.

In a letter to state lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz, the 98 mayors expressed concern and frustration, said the state was slipping in national economic rankings.

“Fraud, unchecked spending, and inconsistent fiscal management in St. Paul have trickled down to our cities—reducing our capacity to plan responsibly, maintain infrastructure, hire and retain employees, and sustain core services without overburdening local taxpayers,” the letter states.

Cities across the state now face workforce shortages, slowed business investment, rising operational and construction costs, and families choosing to leave Minnesota altogether, the letter states…

“There is a growing disconnect between state-level fiscal decisions and the strain they place on the cities we lead, the letter said. “When the state expands programs or shifts responsibilities without stable funding, it is our residents—families, seniors, businesses, and workers—who ultimately bear the cost.”

You can see the full letter here.

These mayors should have demanded that Tim Walz resign.

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