Fahima Egeh Mahamud, the owner of Future Leaders Early Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was charged Wednesday with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
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Mahamud was featured in YouTuber Nick Shirley’s 42-minute video last December exposing rampant daycare fraud in the deep blue city.
Future Leaders Early Learning Center was licensed for 90 children and received $4.6 million from Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) over two years, but appeared completely empty when Shirley visited.
Media skeptics at the time dismissed Shirley’s work, arguing that he had visited the childcare centers featured in his video when they weren’t operating.
The CCAP, a subsidy program available in multiple US states, including New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Colorado, and Minnesota, is funded and regulated by the federal government, but implemented and managed at state and local levels.
Mahamud faces one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States after she allegedly received the CCAP funds without collecting required co-payments from parents.
She is accused of submitting over 13,000 false claims to CCAP between October 2022 and December 2025, falsely certifying that required co-payments from families were collected.
In February, Mahamud was also charged with wire fraud for her alleged involvement in the $250 million “Feeding Our Future” scam. The Future Leaders Early Learning Center allegedly obtained over $850,000 in Federal Child Nutrition Program reimbursements through the COVID-era program.
Mahamud closed the daycare in February—the same day she booked a flight to London, according to prosecutors. She is currently under house arrest.
In a separate case, Jillaine Mertens, a Minnesota childcare operator, was charged Wednesday with wire fraud for allegedly defrauding the state’s Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program (GSCSPP.)
According to prosecutors, she received $425,000 through filing fraudulent paperwork for her Creative Stars Academy locations in Rochester and Kasson, as well as her Tree of Life Academy in Ramsey.
Mertens allegedly inflated staff work hours and submitted false applications for GSCSPP funds for least 23 individuals who were not employed at her facilities.
She faces one count of wire fraud, and her arraignment and initial court appearance is scheduled for June 4, 2026.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) launched coordinated investigations following Shirley’s viral video, which featured multiple Somali day care facilities that appeared empty or abandoned despite receiving millions in taxpayer funds.
Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi credited Shirley with helping to “show Americans the scale of fraud in Tim Walz’s Minnesota,” but stressed that the Department of Justice had been investigating Minnesota fraud cases for months.
“So far, we have charged 98 individuals – 85 of Somali descent – and more than 60 have been found guilty in court,” Bondi posted on X, December 29.
After highlighting multiple fraud cases being prosecuted, Bondi stated: “We are working hand-in-hand with partners like @SecScottBessent, @Sec_Noem, @SecretaryTurner, and @SecretaryLCD to continue unraveling this scheme – and we will continue charging and convicting those behind it. The people of Minnesota deserve better.”
“We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!” she added.
The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided 22 Somali-owned businesses on April 28 as part of the ongoing federal fraud investigation.
Update:
The Department of Justice announced criminal fraud charges against 15 more defendants in Minnesota, Thursday, including owners of child care centers and various Medicaid providers, for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving over $90 million in intended loss.
The Justice Department says the new charges include “the two largest Medicaid fraud cases ever charged in the District and first-of-their kind charges involving additional Medicaid programs.”
The DOJ also announced a “significant expansion of the Division’s Health Care Fraud Section” to combat Medicaid fraud, allocating funding to permit the hiring of 15 new Trial Attorney positions to combat Medicaid fraud across the United States.”
“Today, we are holding scammers accountable who ripped off the American taxpayer and harmed those deserving legitimate assistance from these programs,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “These alleged con artists stole taxpayer dollars while providing substandard care for children and abandoning at least one Medicaid recipient as they passed away. The DOJ Fraud Division, along with the White House’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, will dismantle illegal schemes from coast-to-coast, just as they did today in Minnesota. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Driven by data showing a significant increase in Medicaid fraud across the country, the 15 additional prosecutors will serve as a force multiplier for our existing Strike Forces to combat this critical new threat,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s Fraud Division. “The Fraud Division is committed to supercharging the Health Care Fraud Strike Force program with the resources it needs to tackle the pervasive fraud in the health care industry and protect the vulnerable beneficiaries of these programs, including children and those suffering from chronic ailments.”
“Today’s arrests mark the largest autism fraud bust in American history,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Under the leadership of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, this Administration is carrying out the most aggressive anti-fraud effort in modern American history. These criminals exploited vulnerable children, stole taxpayer dollars, and diverted critical autism care and resources away from families who truly need support, and we will continue rooting out fraud to protect children and restore integrity to America’s public health programs.”
“As alleged, the defendants in this case not only attempted to steal public healthcare funds paid for by hardworking American taxpayers – but stole critical resources from families who truly needed them,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “This FBI and our interagency partners have a mandate to investigate and systematically dismantle this exact kind of public fraud in America, which grossly abuses and mismanages money from working Americans, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Today’s indictment is a massive moment in this effort and we’re not slowing down.”
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