Six Months of Nick Shirley's Biggest Exposés

Anti Fraud Club turns six months old this week. Thanks to everyone who has read, shared our investigations, sent in tips, and supported the work. We’d love to celebrate by telling you we’re running out of things to investigate. Unfortunately, we’ve been to California and countless other places that have piles of fraud, waste, and abuse. For this special edition, we’re revisiting three of our most-read stories and the surprising things that happen when no one seems to care about how other people’s money is spent.

Our August report on New York’s adult daycares was our most-read AFC edition. Nick visited centers in Flushing and found empty rooms, even though the billing showed lots of activity. When the New York Post followed up, their reporters found another issue: nine centers donated a total of $55,000 to Kathy Hochul’s 2022 campaign while billing Medicaid about $49 million that year. At one center, a worker told the Post they served between 100 and 200 people a day, but a security monitor showed empty common areas. Yikes.

Livingwell’s annual Medicaid billing rose from $114,000 in 2018 to $8.05 million in 2024. That kind of increase would be impressive if anyone could explain where all the patients were, but no one can. As we reported, the centers had not been charged, and the donations did not prove that Hochul had helped them. Although, our reporting did show that operators could find the governor’s campaign, while reporters struggled to find their patients. The state, which oversees these payments, should have started asking questions long before Nick arrived.

California showed a different kind of frustration. In our April coverage of the high-speed rail project, we found that while there is a bridge, there is still no train to ride, and there may never be. Voters were promised a trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours, with an original cost of about $33 billion and a completion date set for 2020. By April, the plan had shifted to just getting a Central Valley section running, with 2033 as the earliest possible opening. People who voted for this project could have raised a child and sent them to college while waiting to buy a ticket, and the delays are only getting worse.

When 60 Minutes asked a rail authority board member if financing was ready when construction began, he replied, “It wasn’t. Let’s be real.” It would have helped to be honest from the start. Nick visited the project this month. When asked if the train would be finished in twenty years, State Senator Dave Cortese said, “It might be, might not.”

Our third story goes back to the edition that started AFC. Nick’s investigation in California looked into more than $170 million in alleged Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud. He visited taxpayer-funded daycares and hospice businesses, including several companies located close together in Van Nuys. Nick walked through the halls, knocked on doors, and asked people to explain how things worked. These programs were supposed to care for children and people nearing the end of their lives. Yet, they’re rooted in fraud.

That’s why we started Anti Fraud Club, and why we keep going. Real people pay into these programs, and real people depend on them. They deserve more than empty rooms, broken promises, and officials who only care about accountability when a camera shows up.

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One of the more interesting parts of watching Nick’s investigations is seeing how personally people take them. Somewhere along the way, asking where taxpayer money went became an insult to people who weren’t even being asked. Now Nick can barely get through an airport without somebody delivering a hate speech they haven’t quite finished thinking through.

In Nick’s latest encounter, a man told him, “Shame on you.” When Nick asked why, which you’d think the man could answer, he just said, “You know why.”

Unfortunately, Nick would like to hear it anyway. As they head toward security, the guy insists Nick already knows the counterargument, says he’s heard it a thousand times, and eventually tells him to “go online and look.” He disputes Nick’s reporting, but explaining what’s wrong with it is apparently Nick’s responsibility, too. There’s something very funny about finally meeting the person you hate online and telling him to go back online. Here’s your chance. He’s listening. You can bring up what made you so angry. Instead, the conversation ends with Nick still asking what he should be ashamed of.

Over in New York, another man at least claims to have supporting material. He calls Nick racist and says he could pull up “90 clips.” Nick asks for an example, at which point we learn the man has a basketball game at seven and is currently walking his dog. This is a busy evening, and apparently Nick is being inconsiderate by participating in the argument this guy started. He also tells Nick to walk into any leftist organization and show them his photo: “They’ll know who I am.” We’ll take his word for it. Back on the sidewalk, though, knowing who he is doesn’t get us any closer to seeing a clip. The exchange becomes a lot less amusing when he tells Nick it’s smart to have a bodyguard because there are “crazy people like me” who would “do something about it.” Later comes, “Someone’s gonna find you. I promise you.” It’s an ugly thing to say to someone over a video, and a pretty good explanation of why the bodyguard is there in the first place.

Still, for sheer commitment, it’s hard to beat the man in Sacramento who showed up with printed flyers about Nick’s penis. While Nick tries to ask about legislation, the man repeatedly announces that Nick allegedly has a small one, citing “reports” and inviting him to “prove me wrong.” Saying something stupid in an argument is easy. Printing copies means you had time to reconsider. You had to stand there waiting for the printer, looking at the first one, and decide you needed more. In the middle of all this, a woman asks Nick for a photo while the man is still there with his papers. Whatever he hoped to accomplish that day, he’s now the guy holding penis flyers next to somebody else’s fan photo.

You might expect the governor’s office to have a little more restraint, but Gavin Newsom’s press office went with an AI-generated image of a camera-covered man at a daycare asking, “Hey, can I see your kids?” The caption: “Nick Shirley, right now.” So even with an official account and a communications staff, they landed on essentially the same contribution as the hecklers: make Nick look creepy and hope nobody asks a follow-up.

With all their confidence, you’d expect at least one person to explain what Nick did wrong. He keeps asking, but they just get angry. It seems he’s supposed to hear “you’re racist,” apologize, and stop asking about the money. Asking them to explain is already more effort than they want to give. They come up to Nick sure he’s wrong, but can’t say why. Maybe it’s because Nick is right.

Today, I simply want to say thank you.

Thank you for paying attention to this work over the past six months. I realize that reading an email about fraud, waste, and abuse isn’t exactly a break from your busy life. It means a lot to me that you take the time to read, watch, and care about what we’re discovering.

When I’m out filming, I sometimes meet people who recognize me and come over to chat. Some ask for a picture, but many just want to say they appreciate the work. Those conversations stick with me. It’s easy to focus on the loud critics and forget about all the people quietly supporting you.

To our Founding Members and everyone who’s bought merch, thank you for supporting something you believe in. Your help makes the travel, filming, and time spent on these investigations possible. I take that seriously. You work hard for your money, and choosing to support me means a lot.

And to everyone reading, whether you’ve been here for months or this is your first time, I’m glad you’re here. I hope this work gives you a reason to keep watching and to expect more from the people in charge of your tax dollars.

There’s still a lot to do. But before moving on to the next story, I wanted to take a moment to thank the people who make it possible to keep going.

Thank you for staying with me.

Talk soon,

Nick

A few developments worth remembering from our first six months: