What Nick Shirley’s Minnesota Fraud Story Says About Legacy Media . . . and Government!
by Issues & Insights.com, December 29, 2025
Nick Shirley’s 42-minute YouTube video on daycare fraud in Minnesota is shocking not just because of the scale of abuse he uncovered in a day. It’s shocking because it took a young kid to expose this years-long scheme. Where was the mainstream media all this time?
In the must-see video, Shirley teams up with a citizen investigator and goes door-to-door visiting various “daycare” facilities in Minneapolis that pocketed millions in taxpayer money through a Child Care Assistance Program.
The first two “daycare centers” are both located at the same address in an industrial park, which combined got some $5 million in taxpayer support over the past five years. Another, located a block away, got $3 million. None were open.🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 26, 2025
We ALL… pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a
Another was the “Quality Learing Center” – which misspelled “learning” in its sign. Like the others, it was closed, but outside of it was a woman who kept shouting “don’t open up!” and “go away!” and “shame on you!” and “ICE!”
None of the places the pair visited showed any signs of having any children under its care. They went to an autism center with the same result, and two buildings that supposedly housed dozens of health care companies, all of which looked like obvious fronts.
Yet somehow, these blatantly fraudulent businesses were able to collect more than $100 million in a few short years.
BREAKING: First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson stated he believes "half or more" of the $18 billion spent on 14 programs likely represents fraud in Minnesota.
— FOX 9 (@FOX9) December 18, 2025
During the conference, he highlighted 14 programs, including autism and housing services, that are flagged as… pic.twitter.com/f7hkxpMlD0
The video, released on the Friday after Christmas, already has more than 90 million views on X.
The question isn’t just how this escaped the notice of government officials, it’s how it could it have escaped the attention of the mainstream press?
It’s not as though there weren’t warning signs that merited investigation. Evidence of fraud in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program goes back years. In August 2018, an investigator reported that “providers using a similar scheme to successfully steal large sums of taxpayer money from this program” and attacked “the lack of internal controls … that dictate how this program operates.”
🚨 BREAKING: OVER 40 “daycare centers” in Columbus, OH opened up using the SAME defunct Somali shell company on the SAME day, and collected $14 MILLION in subsidies in 2024 alone
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 31, 2025
Just CUT OFF the subsidies all together!
It’s OUT OF CONTROL! pic.twitter.com/S1Y8EqmBaS
So, why did it take a 23-year-old kid to expose just how blatant this fraud continues to be, despite promises by the state to clear it up?
News reporters used to pride themselves on exposing fraud, particularly when government officials are involved in covering it up. That sort of investigative work used to be a ticket to awards and promotions.
You’d think that, having been scooped by a kid, the state’s professional journalists would at least be scrambling to follow up – either to debunk the video or dig deeper into the story. You know – forcing the governor to answer questions. Finding out which government officials were in on the fraud. Tracking the money. Etc.
You’d be wrong.
As RealClearPolitics’ Tom Bevan noted on X, the press not only ignored the fraud happening under its nose, but is now ignoring the explosive video that has captured the public’s attention.
READ: Corrupt Media Ran Cover for Somali Fraud in Minnesota
The Minnesota Star Tribune, Bevan points out, had nothing on this expose after it aired. But it did manage to run a front-page story – one that could have been written by Tim Walz’s PR shop – about how the governor was tapping “influencers to spread political messages.”
Somali American in Maine gets over $5M a year from Medicaid for his migrant care agency that he uses to build military in Somalia.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) December 7, 2025
Abdullahi Ali admits this and Gov. Janet Mills enables it, including no-bid contracts and over-billing.
Prosecute Mills!pic.twitter.com/sHuHJWYinC
This form of journalist malpractice isn’t limited to Minnesota. It’s rampant. And it’s the direct result of the legacy media’s decision to put the interests of the Democratic Party ahead of the public.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
