Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video, posted December 26, 2025, accused Somali-run day cares in Minneapolis of collecting public child care money without caring for children. State inspectors later found children at all but one of the nine centers they checked, but the video set off a federal child care funding freeze, and on July 9, 2026, the owner of one featured center pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.
- Filmed
- December 16, 2025, in Minneapolis, with local researcher David Hoch
- Published
- December 26, 2025, on YouTube and X
- Best-known stop
- Quality Learing Center, 1411 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis
- His estimate
- “over $110,000,000” in fraud found in one day
- State figure
- $17.4 million in child care aid to the nine centers in fiscal 2025
- Court outcome
- Future Leaders Early Learning owner pleaded guilty, July 9, 2026
Play “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal” (loads YouTube)
I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal · Nick Shirley · December 26, 2025
What Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video showed
Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video showed him going door to door on December 16, 2025, at day cares, autism centers and an office building full of health care companies, asking where the children were. His guide, introduced only as “David” and later identified as David Hoch, carried printouts of enrollment counts and state payments. Doors stayed locked, windows were covered and staff told them to leave.
Quality Learing Center at 1411 Nicollet Avenue
The Quality Learing Center became the symbol of the video because its sign at 1411 Nicollet Avenue misspelled “learning.” Its manager said the misspelling was a sign maker’s mistake and told KARE 11 that Shirley filmed while the center was scheduled to be closed; the posted hours were 2 to 10 p.m. Licensed as Quality Learning Center, it received $1.9 million from the state Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in fiscal 2025, and its June 2025 licensing review noted no evidence of fraud. It closed its license effective January 6, 2026.
Where Nick Shirley’s Minnesota dollar figures came from
Nick Shirley’s Minnesota dollar figures came from Hoch’s research into state child care payments, and the headline number is his own estimate: “We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day,” he wrote on X. His written testimony to Congress says the pair arrived with “the locations, their enrollment numbers and the amount received in CCap funding for 2025.” Hoch told CNN the data came from public websites, while state House Republican floor leader Harry Niska said some of it came from House Republican staff. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) puts CCAP payments to the nine centers in the video at $17.4 million in fiscal 2025.
How officials responded to Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video
Officials responded to Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video within days, and Washington moved first. On December 29, Homeland Security agents visited about 30 Minneapolis businesses, partly because of the video, a law enforcement official told CNN; FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had already surged agents to Minnesota before it went viral. On December 30, HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill announced, “We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota,” crediting Shirley’s work. HHS says the state receives about $185 million a year in federal child care funds.
Gov. Tim Walz called the freeze “Trump’s long game,” and on January 5, 2026, he ended his campaign for a third term. Immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities, under way weeks before the video, expanded after it as thousands more ICE agents arrived for Operation Metro Surge. NPR called the video “arguably what launched this Minnesota crackdown.”
Nick Shirley’s Minnesota Part 2, January 14, 2026
Nick Shirley’s Minnesota Part 2, posted January 14, 2026, ran 51 minutes and moved beyond day cares to transportation companies and other businesses he alleged were cheating public programs. Its YouTube chapters include “Investigating inactive vans” and “Uncovering ghost businesses.” A week later Shirley took the story to Congress.
What has been confirmed since Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video
Since Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video, one owner shown in it has pleaded guilty, the FBI has searched the Quality Learing Center, and the rest of his claims remain allegations:
- February 2026: Fahima Mahamud, owner of Future Leaders Early Learning, a day care in the video, was charged in the separate Feeding Our Future meal fraud case.
- April 28, 2026: The FBI executed 22 search warrants in the Twin Cities, including at the former Quality Learing Center. No charges against that center or its owners had been made public as of October 29, 2026.
- May 20, 2026: Prosecutors unsealed child care charges against Mahamud for wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The next day, as the Justice Department charged 15 more people in the wider Minnesota fraud scandal, Medicare and Medicaid chief Mehmet Oz credited Shirley.
- July 9, 2026: Mahamud pleaded guilty to both counts. The child care count covered about $4.6 million claimed “on behalf of recipients from whom co-payments were not collected as required,” not empty classrooms. She also admitted taking about $854,000 through Feeding Our Future.
- October 20, 2026: President Trump gave Shirley the first $10,000 award of a new fraud whistleblower program.
The pushback on Nick Shirley’s Minnesota reporting
The pushback on Nick Shirley’s Minnesota reporting came from state inspectors, the centers, Somali Minnesotans and reporters who checked his claims. On January 2, 2026, DCYF said its inspectors found the nine centers “operating as expected,” with children present at every site except one that had not yet opened for the day. Four were already under investigation, and one had been closed since 2022. CBS News found dozens of safety citations at the centers but “no recorded evidence of fraud,” and ABC Learning Center showed CBS footage of parents dropping off children the day Shirley knocked.
Three centers from the video, Hopkins Child Care Center LLC, Cloud Academy LLC and St. Cloud Childcare Inc., sued DCYF on February 19, 2026, after their CCAP payments were suspended, saying the state threw them “under the bus.” Somali child care providers reported threats and vandalism, and Minneapolis police said at least a dozen businesses and day cares had reported threatening calls since December 19. “If someone commits fraud, they should be held accountable, period,” Khalid Omar of the organizing group ISAIAH told CNN. “But to frame a whole community, it’s wrong.”
House Speaker Lisa Demuth said her Republican caucus steered Shirley to the sites, and Democrats later blamed Republicans for helping bring on a federal surge that NPR said led to thousands of arrests and two deaths. Shirley’s reply, on Fox News in July 2026: “Numbers don’t lie, and convictions don’t lie.”
Nick Shirley Minnesota FAQ
What did Nick Shirley find in Minnesota?
Nick Shirley found locked, quiet day cares and offices that he said were collecting public money without serving anyone; inspectors later found children at all but one of the nine centers.
Is the Quality Learing Center still open?
The Quality Learing Center is closed: it gave up its license effective January 6, 2026, and the FBI searched the site on April 28, 2026.
Was anyone in Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video convicted?
One owner from Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video has been convicted: Fahima Mahamud of Future Leaders Early Learning pleaded guilty on July 9, 2026, to wire fraud and conspiracy.
Did Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video cause the child care funding freeze?
Nick Shirley’s Minnesota video was credited by HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill when he froze all federal child care payments to Minnesota on December 30, 2025.
Sources
- Nick Shirley (YouTube): I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal, December 26, 2025
- Nick Shirley (X): Post with the full 42-minute Minnesota video, December 26, 2025
- Nick Shirley (YouTube): I Exposed Minnesotas Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal Pt. 2, January 14, 2026
- House Judiciary Committee: Written testimony of Nick Shirley, January 21, 2026
- Jim O’Neill, HHS Deputy Secretary (X): Post announcing the Minnesota child care payment freeze, December 30, 2025
- U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division: 2026 Minnesota health care fraud case summaries, July 29, 2026
- NBC News: Minnesota department finds child care centers targeted in viral video operating normally, January 2, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Minneapolis day care targeted in Nick Shirley YouTube video is now closed, state records show, January 7, 2026
- CNN (via KIMT): First, a viral video. Then a surge of federal resources to investigate alleged child care fraud in Minnesota, December 29, 2025
- CBS News: How a viral video prompted investigations into alleged fraud at day care centers in Minnesota, December 29, 2025
- CBS Minnesota: Director of Minnesota day care featured in YouTube video on fraud responds, December 30, 2025
- The Associated Press (via NPR): Trump administration says it’s freezing child care funds to Minnesota, December 30, 2025
- NBC News: FBI surged resources to Minnesota over day care fraud claims before video went viral, Patel says, December 30, 2025
- CBS Minnesota: Day cares featured in Nick Shirley video sue Minnesota for throwing them “under the bus”, February 19, 2026
- KSTP: Fraud raids: The Minnesota day care and autism centers that were searched, April 28, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Minneapolis daycare owner charged with fraud tried to flee country days after closing center, prosecutors allege, May 20, 2026
- CNN: ‘Mastermind’ of $250M Minnesota theft scheme gets 500-month prison sentence as feds charge more people with fraud, May 21, 2026
- CBS Minnesota: Minnesota daycare owner pleads guilty to 2 fraud charges, July 9, 2026
- CNN: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ends reelection bid amid welfare-fraud scandal, January 5, 2026
- NPR: How the Trump administration is using social media (transcript), January 16, 2026
- MPR News: YouTuber Nick Shirley accuses Somali-owned day care centers of fraud, December 29, 2025
- FOX 9: Minnesota GOP worked with YouTuber on child care fraud viral video, December 31, 2025
- NPR: Minnesota Democrats blame state Republicans for helping bring on the federal surge, February 16, 2026
- MPR News: Somali child care providers report vandalism, threats after viral fraud video, December 31, 2025
- Sahan Journal: Somali-owned day care in south Minneapolis burglarized, vandalized days after viral video, December 31, 2025
- CNN (via Egypt Independent): Somalis in Minneapolis say they are facing harassment, threats and empty businesses in the wake of fraud allegations video, January 4, 2026
- Office of Rep. Pete Stauber: Stauber to Bring Nick Shirley and David Hoch as Guests to State of the Union, February 23, 2026
- Fox News: Nick Shirley fires back at Minnesota critics: ‘Numbers don’t lie, and convictions don’t lie’, July 21, 2026
- Deseret News: Trump awards Utahn Nick Shirley $10,000 check under new anti-fraud reward program, October 20, 2026
Last updated October 29, 2026