Nick Shirley's Minnesota Investigation Leads to Viral Arrest

The owner of a Minneapolis daycare that appeared in Nick Shirley's viral December 2025 investigation has been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Federal prosecutors say Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, the CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, submitted more than 13,000 false claims to Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program between October 2022 and December 2025. The scheme allegedly netted her $4.6 million in taxpayer funds meant to subsidize childcare for low-income families. Prosecutors say Mahamud falsely certified that she had collected the required co-payments from families enrolled in the program, a condition for receiving federal reimbursement, when she had not.

Earlier this year, she was indicted as the 79th defendant in the Feeding Our Future case after prosecutors alleged she enrolled Future Leaders in the federal child nutrition program and submitted inflated claims. At one point, the daycare reported serving nearly 60,000 meals per month. Between December 2020 and July 2021, Future Leaders received more than $850,000 in nutrition program reimbursements, but investigators found the center spent only about $125,000 on food. The remainder was used for real estate purchases, personal payments to Mahamud, and transfers to affiliated businesses.

Future Leaders Early Learning Center was among the facilities Nick Shirley visited in his 42-minute investigation posted this past December. The video, viewed tens of millions of times, showed Nick and his right hand man, David Hoch, visiting what appeared to be empty daycare centers across Minneapolis that were collectively receiving millions in public funding. The footage drew immediate attention from Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk, and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, prompting a federal response that included the Department of Health and Human Services freezing approximately $185 million in childcare funding to Minnesota.

The fallout from that video has been steady ever since. In January, then-Attorney General Bondi sent additional federal prosecutors to Minnesota to support the U.S. Attorney's Office. In February, Mahamud closed Future Leaders and was arrested while attempting to leave the country. In April, FBI and Homeland Security agents raided about 20 daycare and autism centers across the Twin Cities in a coordinated enforcement action. No arrests were made during those raids, but the intent was clear. Mahamud is currently under house arrest. She now faces charges in both the Feeding Our Future nutrition fraud case and the separate CCAP childcare fraud case.

The Department of Justice has scheduled a press conference in Minneapolis for today to announce what it is calling a "significant law enforcement action involving fraud" in the state. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz are among those expected to attend. Federal prosecutors have estimated that total fraud across Minnesota's social services programs could exceed $9 billion, a figure Governor Tim Walz has publicly disputed.

Given the numerous developments since December, we have compiled a comprehensive timeline of major events in the Minnesota fraud case, which you can read below.

We couldn’t do this without your support. Investigations, travel, and our team on the ground all exist because of you. We don’t take that for granted.

If you want to support our work, shop the Anti Fraud Taxpayer Club collection (& more). Every purchase directly fuels Nick Shirley’s future investigations.

If you’d like to support our mission for exposing fraud across the country, consider becoming a Founding Member today!

As a Founding Member, you’ll receive the core Anti Fraud Club articles, along with these benefits:

We truly appreciate your support and commitment to our mission.

Thank you.

For years, fraud siphoned hundreds of millions from Minnesota's social services programs, and nobody with the power to stop it did. It took a 42-minute video from Nick Shirley to change that. Here's the full timeline of how the Minnesota fraud crisis built, broke open, and became the largest federal fraud enforcement effort in the state's history.

2020

When COVID-19 closed schools nationwide, the federal government expanded the Child Nutrition Program to provide meals to children in need. Nonprofits could sponsor local organizations to serve food and receive federal reimbursements per meal. In Minnesota, Feeding Our Future became one of the largest sponsors, opening over 250 sites. By 2021, it was collecting about $20 million in federal reimbursements weekly. State education officials raised concerns about the nonprofit's rapid growth in fall 2020, but Feeding Our Future responded by suing the state.

January 20, 2022

Federal agents from the FBI, IRS, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service executed search warrants at 26 Twin Cities locations. Feeding Our Future dropped its lawsuit against the state that day and did not reopen.

September 20, 2022

The Department of Justice announced indictments against 47 defendants, including Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock. Prosecutors described this as the largest theft of federal pandemic aid in U.S. history, totaling over $250 million. Investigators reported that funds intended for feeding children were spent on luxury cars, resort properties in Kenya and Turkey, jewelry, and vacations to the Maldives.

March 19, 2025

A federal jury found Bock guilty on multiple counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. Prosecutors described her as the architect of the operation. Bock has maintained she believed the program was operating properly.

December 26, 2025

Nick Shirley released a 42-minute video documenting visits with David Hoch to apparently empty daycare centers in Minneapolis that were collectively receiving millions in public funding through the Child Care Assistance Program. The video received tens of millions of views within days and was amplified by Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk, and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. It renewed national attention on fraud in Minnesota and brought scrutiny to CCAP, which had not previously been the focus of federal enforcement.

January 2026

The Department of Health and Human Services froze about $185 million in federal childcare funding to Minnesota. Attorney General Bondi sent additional federal prosecutors to support the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families reported visiting all 10 daycares featured in the video. Several facilities, including Future Leaders Early Learning Center and Quality Learning Center, closed in the following weeks.

February 10, 2026

On February 10, Fahima Egeh Mahamud, CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, notified the state of the daycare's closure. Prosecutors allege she booked a flight to London the same day. She was arrested two days later before boarding. Mahamud became the 79th person charged in the Feeding Our Future case. Investigators found that Future Leaders received over $850,000 in nutrition reimbursements but spent only $125,000 on food.

April 28, 2026

Federal agents executed search warrants at more than 20 locations across the Twin Cities as part of a coordinated enforcement operation. No arrests were made, but the action marked a significant escalation. Governor Walz claimed credit for the raids on X. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly corrected him, writing: "This FBI and DOJ, with our DHS partners, drafted and executed every search warrant today."

May 20, 2026

Mahamud was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States through Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program. Prosecutors allege she submitted more than 13,000 false claims between October 2022 and December 2025, collecting approximately $4.6 million. A second daycare operator, Jillaine Mertens, was also charged with wire fraud the same day.

May 21, 2026

Bock is set to be sentenced today. Prosecutors are seeking a 50-year sentence, the longest in the case. Her defense team has requested no more than 37 months. Separately, the Department of Justice has scheduled a press conference in Minneapolis to announce what it is calling a "significant law enforcement action involving fraud" in the state. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz are among those expected to attend.

It has been nearly five months since Nick Shirley released his Minnesota daycare investigation, and the results have already spoke for themselves. Given yesterdays’ arrests, we thought it would be fun to put together a “scoreboard” recap.

Nick visited ten daycare centers across Minneapolis, documenting facilities that appeared empty or barely operational. These centers collectively received millions in taxpayer funding through Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program. The state confirmed that nine of these daycares, still operating, received a combined $17.3 million in CCAP funding in fiscal year 2025. Several were also linked to the $250 million Feeding Our Future nutrition fraud scheme, with facilities claiming to have served millions of meals that investigators say were never provided.

At the time, state officials and major media outlets disputed Nick's findings. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families sent inspectors, who reported children were present at all but one facility. Media stories questioned his methods, and one daycare released security footage showing children being dropped off the same day Nick visited.

A few weeks later, the dominoes started falling.

Future Leaders Early Learning Center, featured in Nick's video, received $3.68 million in CCAP funding in one year before closing in January. Its owner, Fahima Egeh Mahamud, attempted to leave the country in February, booking a flight to London the same day she notified the state of the closure. She was arrested at the airport. She has since been federally charged twice: first as the 79th defendant in the Feeding Our Future case, and this week as the first person in Minnesota to face federal prosecution for CCAP fraud. She is accused of submitting over 13,000 false claims totaling $4.6 million.

Quality Learing Center became one of the most notable cases from Nick's investigation, closing shortly after the video was released. It was raided by federal agents in April. Mini Child Care Center, also featured in the video, was entered by FBI and Homeland Security agents during the same operation.

Not every facility in the video has been charged or raided. However, the federal response prompted by Nick's investigation has extended beyond the ten daycares he visited. Within weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services froze approximately $185 million in childcare funding statewide. Then-Attorney General Bondi assigned additional prosecutors to Minneapolis. In April, FBI and Homeland Security agents raided more than 20 daycares and autism centers across the Twin Cities. Federal prosecutors estimate that total fraud across Minnesota's social services programs could exceed $9 billion.

The investigation Nick began with a camera, his right hand man David Hoch, and a list of fraudulent childcare facilities has become the largest federal fraud enforcement effort in Minnesota history. Facilities he identified are closing, being raided, and resulting in federal indictments. Those who doubted his findings are now silent. The scoreboard never lies.

What do you think about Nick’s on-the-ground investigative journalism? Let him know by replying to this email.