Tag: taxes

Beyond Daycare: How Somali Fraud Spread Across Nutrition, Housing, and Autism Programs

Nick Shirley’s viral video brought attention to widespread daycare fraud within Minnesota’s Somali community. Further investigation reveals Somali participation in multiple benefit schemes, ranging from nutrition programs to housing and autism services.

Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that, of the 92 defendants charged in child nutrition, housing services, and autism program schemes, 82 are Somali Americans.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson called these programs “staggering, industrial-scale fraud” and stated that when investigations are complete, total fraud could exceed $9 billion. Documented theft already includes $300 million from Feeding Our Future, nearly $220 million from autism programs, and $302 million from Housing Stabilization Services, totaling $822 million.

The Somali-linked nonprofit Feeding Our Future was founded in 2016 and during COVID-19 claimed to distribute meals to schoolchildren but instead stole at least $250 million while providing few or no meals. The scheme listed 299 meal sites claiming to serve 90 million meals in less than two years, more than 120,000 meals per day. One FBI-surveilled site claiming 6,000 meals per day actually averaged around 40 visitors.

Federal prosecutors allege only around 3% of funding was spent on food, with the remainder funneled to conspirators. Federal prosecutors indicted 78 suspects, with more than 50 pleading guilty and seven found guilty at trial. State officials spotted early fraud signs in July 2019. When Minnesota’s Department of Education tried to stop payments in December 2020, Feeding Our Future sued the state, alleging racial discrimination. A judge found no legal basis for stopping payments.

Current and former federal sources confirmed some funds ended up with al-Qaida-linked terror group al-Shabaab in Somalia. One recovered text message read “Please send $1,000 to Mogadishu Bakara,” referring to a market previously controlled by al-Shabaab. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced his department will investigate whether tax dollars from Minnesota’s public assistance programs made their way to designated terrorists.

Thompson explained the connection between fraud schemes: “Many defendants in these cases were getting money from multiple government benefit programs, many Medicaid programs. This is how these investigations grew out of Feeding our Future. I think roughly two dozen or so Feeding our Future defendants were getting money from autism clinics and that’s why, that is how we learned about the autism fraud.”

Widespread fraud in Minnesota’s autism services system followed the same pattern as other scams. The first defendant charged was Asha Farhan Hassan, who, along with her partners, approached parents in the Somali community to recruit their children into Smart Therapy. The children did not have autism diagnoses, but Hassan and her partners worked with professionals to have the recruited children improperly qualified for autism services.

Parents received monthly cash kickbacks ranging from approximately $300 to $1,500 per child. Prosecutors also charged another defendant who approached parents in the Somali community to recruit children for his clinic, which ultimately submitted $6 million in claims for Medicaid reimbursement.

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US To Fund $8.6 Billion Boeing Contract for Israeli F-15 Fighter Jets

The US Department of War announced on Monday that Boeing has been awarded a contract worth up to $8.6 billion to sell Israel new F-15 fighter jets as part of a deal funded by US military aid.

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced the initial deal in November 2024 and said it would be funded by US aid that was included in a massive foreign assistance bill President Biden signed into law earlier that year. At the time, the F-15 deal was valued at $5.2 billion and included 25 new F-15s.

The updated contract with Boeing has a ceiling of up to $8.6 billion since it includes an option to purchase an additional 25 F-15s. The Pentagon said in its announcement that the work on the fighter jets will be “performed at St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by December 31, 2035.”

The US has continued to provide Israel with massive amounts of weapons despite its genocidal campaign in Gaza, which, according to several studies, has likely killed more than 100,000 Palestinians, including tens of thousands of women and children. US military aid and direct military intervention have also supported Israel’s wars in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and the occupation of the West Bank.

According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, in the two years following the October 7 attack, the US government spent at least $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel and another $9.65 billion to $12.07 billion on US military operations in the region in support of Israel.

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YouTuber Nick Shirley Says He’s Receiving Death Threats Saying He’ll Be ‘Kirked’ After Bombshell Video Exposes $110 Million Somali Daycare Fraud Scheme in Minnesota

YouTuber Nick Shirley has revealed he’s receiving death threats and warnings that he’ll be “Kirked,” a sinister reference to being assassinated, following his viral video that uncovered over $110 million in alleged taxpayer-funded fraud at Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota

Shirley, 23, who documented empty daycares raking in millions while showing no signs of actual childcare, appeared on the “PBD Podcast” on Wednesday and detailed the harassment, including doxxing of his family and being stalked by Somalis during filming.

The independent journalist’s explosive 42-minute video, published last week, has garnered over 132 million views.

In the footage, Shirley and his team visit multiple daycare facilities in the Minneapolis area, home to one of the largest Somali populations in the U.S., only to find locked doors, no children in sight, and signs of abandonment despite these centers receiving massive government subsidies.

One center alone reportedly pocketed $4 million in taxpayer dollars, with Shirley estimating the total fraud uncovered in a single day at over $110 million.

On the PBD Podcast, hosted by Patrick Bet-David, Shirley described the intense fallout from his exposé.

“I’ve been getting death threats,” Shirley said. “People are telling me I’m going to get Kirked.”

“They’re saying, ‘You’re going to be Kirked … you’ll be the next Kirk.’ And it’s just like, are you kidding me? I hate what’s happening right now,” Shirley said. “I feel bad for my family, honestly, because we didn’t do anything wrong, and yet you guys are coming after me like I’m some sort of villain. My little sister is getting phone calls [from the news]. I’m like, why are you guys doing this?”

The term “Kirked” is a dark reference to the September assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

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Minn. Somali-run day care bizarrely reports their documents were stolen in mysterious break-in — but cops tell a different story

A Somali-run day care in Minneapolis is claiming somebody broke in and stole “important documents,” but cops say the facility didn’t report anything was actually taken. 

The alleged burglary comes as the national spotlight shines on the unfolding multibillion-dollar fraud scandal involving Minnesota human services, with particular scrutiny on day care facilities run by Somali immigrants after dozens of people from the community have been busted for pilfering state funds.

Nasrulah Mohamed, manager of Nakomis Day Care Center, told reporters that a suspect entered through the kitchen at the rear of the facility, damaging a wall and breaking into the building’s office, sometime on Tuesday.

He said the alleged prowler stole “important documentation” including children’s enrollment information, employee documentation and checkbooks.

However “no loss was reported to officers,” according to a preliminary report by the Minneapolis Police Department.

MPD noted that the center later reached out with additional information, but the updated police report was not immediately available.

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Misspelled Minnesota day care closed last week, state claims — on same day owners told The Post it’s up and running

The misspelled day care at the center of viral outrage over the Somali community’s multibillion-dollar fraud scandal shut down last week, the head of Minnesota’s child services department claimed Monday — at the same time that the owners of the facility put on a dog and pony show for The Post to demonstrate that it was really a working day care and not a front.

Tikki Brown, commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families, told reporters that her staff found no evidence of fraud at any of the day cares highlighted by YouTuber Nick Shirley.

She stated that the Quality “Learing” Center had closed. 

Apparently the owners of the site — which has gotten up to $4 million in taxpayer funds and racked up dozens of inspection violations — didn’t get the memo.

At least 20 kids were seen entering the Quality “Learing” Center Monday afternoon after being bused in. One employee shouted down The Post’s attempt to ask questions: “Don’t f–king come to this area. Get the f–k out of here,” he said.

The day care says it is open Monday through Thursday from 2 to 10 p.m., and the owner’s son Ibrahim Ali showed up Monday to claim all the allegations were a big misunderstanding.

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RINO Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s Office Dismisses Daycare Fraud Allegations as ‘Cost of Doing Business’

RINO Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office has brushed off growing concerns about potential massive fraud in taxpayer-funded daycare centers, particularly in Columbus, which boasts the second-largest Somali population in the United States, as simply “the cost of doing business.”

The governor’s office said that attempts to use daycare centers for fraud in Ohio have been “known to the state for decades,” and implied that those who did not think it was an issue are naive.

Speaking to the Columbus Dispatch, Dan Tierney, DeWine’s spokesperson, denied any recent “surge” in fraud but acknowledged that the governor’s office is aware of public interest in the matter.

“If people are out there who could not contemplate that people were trying to defraud the public through day care centers, I understand it’s new to them … but it’s been known to the state for decades,” Tierney said. “So therefore, we have robust anti-fraud measures to try and stop this, this is something that is unfortunately the cost of doing business.”

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Lawyer’s daughter who proudly identified as con artist gets sentenced for bank fraud after using taxpayer cash to rent Miami mega-mansion

A former social media influencer who once proudly called herself a ‘con artist’ after scamming the federal government out of $1.5 million in COVID-related disaster loans will now be locked up for even longer.

Danielle Miller, the daughter of lawyer and former New York State Bar Association president Michael Miller, was sentenced Monday to 16 years in Florida state prison, after pleading guilty to 38 counts of fraudulently using personal identification information.

Prosecutors have said Miller came to Florida during the COVID pandemic, traveling to Sarasota with her was Ciera Blas, whom she met while locked up at New York City‘s infamous Rikers Island for using stolen credit card information to book appointments at a luxurious spa in the Upper West Side.

Miller then used others’ identification information to defraud banks throughout the Sunshine State.

The scam finally unraveled when an alert manager notified the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, who arrested her.

But this was not the first time Miller faced jail for bank fraud in the state, even going as far as proudly characterizing herself as a ‘con artist’ in a 2022 New York Magazine article.

That year, she was sentenced to five years in a Florida prison, after she attempted to use a California woman’s passport to obtain more than $8,000 at a Chase bank drive-through window in 2020, according to the Bradenton Herald.

By 2023, federal authorities accused Miller of stealing the identities of more than 10 people to set up bank accounts and obtain loans – which she then used for travel and for lavish purchases, including $27,000-a-month rent at a waterside villa in Miami.

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Newsom’s Massive Fraud Scandal No One Is Talking About

Everybody’s buzzing about that Minnesota Medicaid mess with Gov. Tim Walz. Some are even calling it the largest fraud scandal ever. If only.

Blue-state fraud is undoubtedly a problem, and Walz should be held accountable if he did indeed look the other way. But what happened in the land of 10,000 lakes is tiny compared to the fraud in California under Gavin Newsom.

Heck, it makes Minnesota look like pocket change.

A fresh 92-page bombshell from the California State Auditor lays it all out.

“This latest report was issued by the state auditor, and that’s a nonpartisan position; that state auditor now puts eight state agencies on the high-risk list of agencies to watch out for, for things like fraud and mismanagement as well as waste,” Newsmax correspondent Heather Myers revealed last week.

“Here’s a look at that 92-page report. Newly added to the high-risk list is California’s food stamp program. If the state doesn’t get the improper payments under control, it could cost an extra $2.5 billion. Also on there is the Department of Finance, which was tasked with giving out COVID relief funds. Critics say $32 billion of that was taken by fraudsters. Then there are infrastructure issues like California’s deteriorating dams, and also the high-speed train that’s already cost taxpayers 18 billion without a single section of track complete.”

But wait, there’s more!

“Other reports cite $24 billion spent on the homeless issue that critics claim the state lost track of. More recently, there’s a report that says California cell phone users paid a surcharge for years to upgrade the state’s 911 system,” she added.

Tallied all up, California taxpayers lost $70 billion to fraud.

But here’s where things get really interesting. While pressure is on in Minnesota to get to the bottom of the state’s fraud, California seems to be under the radar.

Now get this. Right in the middle of the fraud apocalypse, a new ballot initiative seeks to impose a one-time 10% wealth tax on billionaires’ assets.

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DHS Says REAL ID, Which DHS Certifies, Is Too Unreliable To Confirm U.S. Citizenship

Only the government could spend 20 years creating a national ID that no one wanted and that apparently doesn’t even work as a national ID.

But that’s what the federal government has accomplished with the REAL ID, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now considers unreliable, even though getting one requires providing proof of citizenship or lawful status in the country.

In a December 11 court filing, Philip Lavoie, the acting assistant special agent in charge of DHS’ Mobile, Alabama, office, stated that, “REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship.”

Lavoie’s declaration was in response to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in October by the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm, on behalf of Leo Garcia Venegas, an Alabama construction worker. Venegas was detained twice in May and June during immigration raids on private construction sites, despite being a U.S. citizen. In both instances, Venegas’ lawsuit says, masked federal immigration officers entered the private sites without a warrant and began detaining workers based solely on their apparent ethnicity.

And in both instances officers allegedly retrieved Venegas’ Alabama-issued REAL ID from his pocket but claimed it could be fake. Venegas was kept handcuffed and detained for an hour the first time and “between 20 and 30 minutes” the second time before officers ran his information and released him.

Lavoie’s declaration says that the agents “needed to further verify his U.S. citizenship because each state has its own REAL ID compliance laws, which may provide for the issuance of a REAL ID to an alien and therefore based on HSI Special Agent training and experience, REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship.”

It’s the punch line to a bad joke with a 20-year windup. When Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005. It was sold as a post-9/11 security measure to create uniform standards for state IDs, including clearly listing citizenship or lawful immigration status. State IDs that conformed to the requirements would be marked with a star. Contrary to the cheeky first sentence of this story, DHS insists that REAL ID is not a national ID system, and that it doesn’t involve a centralized national database. (Civil liberties groups say it amounts to a de facto national ID system anyway.) 

The rub was that REAL IDs would be required for entry to federal property, including, most significantly for the average American, airport security checkpoints. But the law was widely unpopular. There was such low compliance from states that enforcement was delayed seven times over the years, until finally beginning this May.

The project should have been scrapped years ago. America somehow survived two decades of terrorism-free air travel without REAL IDs. As Reason‘s Scott Shackford wrote in 2021, “The government is demanding that Americans give up more of their privacy to the feds, subject themselves to additional inane bureaucracy, and carry around proof that we’re citizens to be able to fly, even though none of that makes us more secure.”

And now we discover that DHS doesn’t even consider the thing proof of citizenship.

In a court filing in response to DHS, the Institute for Justice noted how incredible this position is. “REAL IDs require proof of citizenship or lawful status,” the Institute for Justice wrote. “DHS is the very agency responsible for certifying that REAL IDs, including Alabama’s STAR IDs, satisfy this requirement.”

The law firm argues that DHS’ policy of allowing officers to disregard proof of lawful presence likely violates the Fourth Amendment and DHS’ own regulations.

When asked to comment on Lavoie’s declaration, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to Reason: “The INA requires aliens and non-citizens in the US to carry immigration documents. Real IDs are not immigration documents—they make identification harder to forge, thwarting criminals and terrorists.”

But of course, Venegas is a U.S. citizen, so he is not required to carry non-existent immigration documents.

DHS’ statement to Reason when Venegas’ lawsuit was first filed insisted that, “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.”

The agency never responded to a follow-up question asking why, then, Venegas was targeted.

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False refugee study used by Dems to justify open borders — and massive spending

Even as massive fraud schemes are uncovered in Minnesota, orchestrated primarily by Somali refugees, Democrats are circling the wagons.

Refugees and asylum seekers provide a substantial net benefit to the United States, they claim, generating more wealth than they take from the government.

But that talking point is based on a federal study that was rejected in 2017 by the first Trump administration as methodologically unsound and preposterous in its conclusions. The study was resurrected and expanded by the Biden administration in 2024.

Today, 73% of Somali households have at least one member enrolled in Medicaid, and 89% of Somali families with children participate in at least one welfare program.

These realities stand in stark contrast to the glowing conclusions of the Biden report, which claims refugees and asylees add a net $8.25 billion annually to federal coffers.

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