Tag: welfare

Guess Who Finally Showed Up at Minneapolis ‘Quality Learing Center’ This Week

YouTuber Nick Shirley did what no one in the legacy media bothered to do: he exposed the rampant fraud being perpetrated by Somali-run daycares in Minnesota by going to these “daycares” with a camera and asking questions. That’s it. That’s how easy it was for Shirley to amass more than 120 million views of his 42-minute story on X, and blow wide open the ongoing fraud scandal in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Shirley’s exposé was so damning that Governor Tim Walz was forced to respond, even though his statement — issued through a spokesperson — was “weak sauce,” as our Matt Vespa put it. 

“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,” the spokesperson said. “He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”

Sure.

One of the daycares, with the misspelled name, “Quality Learing Center,” supposedly cares for 99 children. When Shirley showed up, the building appeared empty.

Now, The New York Post is reporting that the owners are getting short-tempered with reporters and apparently trucking in those missing kids.

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Luxury cars and private villas: See how Minnesota fraudsters spent millions intended for hungry kids

Luxury cars, private villas and overseas wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of files and photos that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew through hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars as part of one of the biggest COVID-era fraud schemes.

The files document a spending spree in which defendants, many of Somali descent, took taxpayer money meant to feed hungry children and used it to buy cars, property and jewelry. Videos show them popping champagne at an opulent Maldives resort. In a text message, one defendant boasts: “You are gonna be the richest 25 year old InshaAllah [God willing].”

The documents feature exhibits from a recent federal trial, many of which are being made public by CBS News for the first time. The exhibits include:

  • A confirmation email for a stay in an overwater villa with a private pool at Radisson Blu Resort Maldives
  • Lakefront property in Minnesota
  • Receipts showing wire transfers to China and East Africa
  • First class tickets to Istanbul and Amsterdam
  • A 2021 Porsche Macan
  • Stacks of cash, texted between defendants

At the sentencing of a defendant who used taxpayer funds for cars and the Maldives vacation, 24-year-old Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel admonished him, saying: “Where others saw a crisis and rushed to help, you saw money and rushed to steal.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $48 million in restitution for his role in the fraud scheme.

Nur is one of dozens who siphoned hundreds of millions in stolen taxpayer funds — with questions still swirling about where all the money went. The crime has drawn renewed attention in recent weeks: House Republicans last week launched a probe into Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the cases, and the Treasury Department said it will investigate whether money made its way to al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab, which is based in Somalia. 

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Tim Walz Attacks President Trump After HHS Department Freezes Childcare Payments to Minnesota Amid Widespread Somali Fraud

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz attacked President Trump in his latest statement in response to allegations of rampant fraud in the Somali community.

Somali healthcare and daycare scammers may have stolen more than $9 billion in taxpayer money in Minnesota.

Walz lashed out at President Trump and accused him of letting fraudsters out of prison.

“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraud – referring cases to law enforcement, shutting down and auditing high-risk programs,” Walz said.

“Trump keeps letting fraudsters out of prison,” Walz said.

Later Tuesday, the Health and Human Services Department announced it is freezing all childcare payments to Minnesota amid allegations of widespread fraud.

“We have turned off the money spigot,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said.

The HHS took three actions against the rampant fraud in Minnesota: All payments across the country will require justification and photo evidence before money is sent to a state.

All individuals in Nick Shirley’s video have been identified and audits have been demanded.

The HHS has also launched a fraud reporting hotline.

Walz lashed out at President Trump again.

“This is Trump’s long game,” Walz.

“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along,” Walz said.

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz added.

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Walz turned ‘blind eye’ to fraud warnings in Minnesota: GOP state committee chair

Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins (R) says she warned Gov. Tim Walz (D) about alleged fraud within the state’s social services programs, but to no avail.

“He has turned a blind eye for so long that he cannot deny there were so many whistleblower reports, so many media reports,” Robbins told the New York Post on Tuesday. “For them to say ‘We did not know’ is just not true.”

Robbins, chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy committee, also reposted on the social platform X a letter she sent in February to Shireen Gandhi, commissioner of the state’s Department of Human Services. In the letter, Robbins detailed allegations that multiple day care facilities fraudulently billed Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program. 

Robbins, who is running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination to take on Walz next November, added on X that she gave Walz’s administration “a roadmap to the childcare fraud” outlined by independent journalist Nick Shirley on Friday.

Shirley’s video detailing his investigation into the growing fraud scandal renewed federal scrutiny into the matter. The Department of Homeland Security has dispatched agents to Minneapolis as part of its probe, while the Small Business Administration halted grants to the state Monday. 

Asked for comment, Walz’s office pointed The Hill to an op-ed in which he denounced that “our state’s generosity has been taken advantage of by an organized group of fraudsters who’ve put their greed and self-dealing above the needs of children, seniors and people with disabilities.”

The governor’s office also noted that he has appointed a new director of program integrity to help investigate the problem, and it pointed to reporting that Robbins had failed to communicate with state agencies over whistleblower information related to the fraud.

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SAY WHAT? Liberal Politico Reporter Suggests Somali Daycare Owners Could Justifiably Shoot People for Asking Questions

Josh Gerstein, a journalist who works at the liberal outlet Politico, tweeted something on Monday night that is raising a lot of eyebrows.

In response to the explosive report from independent journalist Nick Shirley about Somali fraud at daycare centers in Minnesota, Gerstein tweeted:

“At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws”

Who knew that liberal journos support ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws? Of course, Minnesota, being controlled by Democrats, has no such laws, but still.

Isn’t it amazing how journalists always rush to attack the person reporting the wrongdoing in a situation like this rather than calling out, you know, the wrongdoing itself?

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Jessica Tarlov of FOX News Ends the Year on a Dumb Note About Nick Shirley’s Report on Somali Fraud in Minnesota

Jessica Tarlov, the liberal panelist on The Five on FOX News, had a predictably dumb take on Nick Shirley and his explosive video report on fraud at Somali daycare centers in Minnesota.

You all know she would have a bad take on this, didn’t you? If so, Tarlov does not disappoint.

She suggests that there is ‘no way’ that Shirley actually uncovered all the fraud that he claims in his report.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

JESSICA TARLOV: It’s going to get incredibly complicated for [Gov. Tim Walz] and I’m sure that he and his team are talking about whether he could mount another, you know, I don’t want to say challenge because Donald Trump won’t be running again, but obviously he’s been considering 2028.

I think that that will be more difficult when something like this has gone on in your state while you are in office, even if you’re not personally involved in it. The program that he was talking about that you reference Kellyanne’s school lunches, which I’ve seen no fraud about that, that kids go to school and they get lunch and they should. Yes, school lunch is a good thing.

Sometimes breakfast too, even. Nick Shirley’s reporting there’s no way that this kid walking around uncovered $100 million worth of fraud on his own. There have been tons of people working behind the scenes quietly, including independent local journalists that have been exposing this.

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Shocking unearthed footage shows parents pretending to drop kids off at a Minnesota day care center

Shocking unearthed video from a 2018 state fraud case shows Minnesota parents dropping their children off at a day care center and then leaving with the kids moments later — as authorities probe a rampant billion-dollar fraud scheme in Minneapolis.

In the surveillance footage, dated 2015 and obtained by Fox 9, parents are seen signing their kids into the facility so providers could bill the state for full days of care for children who didn’t actually attend.

On some days, no families would even show up at all, but the day cares would still claim reimbursements from the government, the outlet reported at the time.

The alleged phony day care centers also gave kickbacks to parents involved.

Another video obtained by Fox 9 shows a man handing an envelope to a parent with an alleged kickback payment for participating in the scheme.

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All child care payments to Minnesota are FROZEN amid daycare ‘fraud’ scandal as Tim Walz is targeted in huge crackdown

The federal government has ceased all child care payments to Minnesota amid the Democratic state’s ongoing daycare fraud scandal. 

Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Jim O’Neill announced on Thursday that funding has been frozen and demanded that Governor Tim Walz audit the centers allegedly involved. 

‘We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,’ O’Neill declared in his statement. 

The move from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the division of the HHS that handles child care, comes after independent journalist Nick Shirley shared footage of an apparently empty Minnesota daycare.

The facility has reportedly received millions in taxpayer funds, leading Shirley to claim that Minnesota has allowed for the ‘largest fraud in US history’ to go unchecked.

‘You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade,’ O’Neill wrote. 

O’Neill said he has activated the ‘spend defend system for all ACF payments,’ meaning that all payments going forward across the country will require proof and reasoning before the money is allocated. 

He added that he and ACF Assistant Secretary Alex Adams have identified the people involved in the scheme that Shirley allegedly unveiled. 

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‘Policies are totally unclear’: Judge berates Trump admin over its sharing of Medicaid data with ICE, but allows certain information to be given

The Trump administration may soon share certain Medicaid information about suspected undocumented immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal judge ruled.

In a 7-page order issued on Monday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria found that sharing “citizenship and immigration status, address, phone number, date of birth, and Medicaid ID” is “clearly authorized by law” and that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sufficiently explained to the court why they made the “abrupt departure from their past policies of not sharing or using Medicaid data for immigration enforcement purposes.”

The agency had reasoned that President Donald Trump issued multiple executive orders demanding that agencies, among other things, carry out immigration laws and “secure our borders.”

Chhabria’s opinion is a victory for the administration to that end. Beginning on Jan. 6, DHS and HHS may share the data with ICE about suspected undocumented immigrants who receive public health insurance, opening up another avenue for immigration law enforcement officers to track down those they believe are here illegally. However, what data they can give is limited.

Chhabria, a Barack Obama appointee, was responding to a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of his state and 21 others, which sought to stop the sharing of additional information, which Chhabria granted.

Bonta and the other states filed a lawsuit on July 1, targeting HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) handing over of “a trove of individuals’ protected health data” to other federal agencies, including DHS, “without their consent.” Chhabria proceeded to bar the administration from sharing Medicaid data “obtained from the plaintiff states for immigration enforcement purpose” while the case played out and the agencies explained their actions.

The judge determined the Trump administration may not share information beyond “basic biographical, location, and contact” because the federal government’s “new policies are totally unclear about what that information would be, why it would be needed for immigration enforcement purposes, and what the risks of sharing it with DHS would be.”

Such reasoning would rule out the government acting “arbitrarily” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, the statute governing federal agencies’ behavior. And so while Chhabria opined in the recent order that DHS and HHS adequately explained their actions, allowing for the sharing of certain data, he also found that significant questions remain.

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Tim Walz’s Bratty Daughter Lashes Out at ‘Right-Wing Infrastructure’ for Exposing Massive Somali Fraud Scandal – Claims It’s ‘How People Get Hurt’

In a rambling video posted to social media on Monday, Hope Walz, the 24-year-old daughter of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has accused conservatives and the “entire right-wing infrastructure” of launching a “hate and bot campaign” against her family.

The sob story from the governor’s daughter comes amid allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community programs under her father’s administration, which appear to have cost taxpayers billions.

Instead of addressing the substance of the accusations, Hope portrayed herself as a victim, whining that the exposure is “how people get hurt” and complaining about life in a “post-truth world.”

“In the name of transparency, because I think that is what people appreciate about me and my content,” Hope Walz begins. “I’ll be honest in saying that having the entire right-wing infrastructure launch a hate and bot campaign against you and your family really sucks, especially because I’m a private citizen. Like I pay my rent. I work multiple jobs.”

Hope Walz continues to describe an “extreme amount, overwhelming amount of DMs, comments, emails just peddling propaganda, pushing agendas.”

“I don’t have anything to do with anything,” she claims. “It really, really hurts. Yeah, this is how people get hurt. And I have a great support system and I’m like very confident in who I am as a person in the work that I do. But living like a post-truth world is really scary.”

She claims those who “just believe what their dear leader tells them to spin reality to fit that.”

“I’m gonna, you know, continue to do my own thing. I just felt the need to say that,” she concludes.

The video was initially posted on Hope Walz’s social media and was reposted on X by journalist Eric Daugherty.

In his caption, Daugherty wrote, “Fraud Father Tim Walz’s daughter is now FURIOUSLY accusing MAGA of stoking violence by exposing Somali fraud under Tim’s watch… Tell your dad to RESIGN so taxpayers can claw back their money. Nobody is advocating violence, only ACCOUNTABILITY.”

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