Minnesota officials deny daycare fraud allegations from viral video

Minnesota officials and a daycare manager denied fraud allegations Monday after a viral video questioned state-funded child care centers, with both sides disputing claims that the facility was closed or improperly collecting taxpayer money.

The allegations stem from a viral video posted by independent journalist Nick Shirley showing visits to several Minnesota daycare facilities, including Quality Learning Center in Minneapolis, which appeared inactive during the visit despite receiving state child care assistance funds.

At a news conference Monday, Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said prior inspections of the centers did not uncover fraud and that regulators are conducting additional unannounced visits to review concerns raised by the video.

“We are aware of a video that’s being circulated that has gained local and national attention about child care centers in Minnesota,” Brown said. “While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously.”

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Brown said each facility mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the past six months as part of the state’s licensing process, with annual inspections conducted without advance notice to assess normal operations.

She added that inspectors found children present during those visits and that none of the prior reviews uncovered fraud.

“None of those investigations uncovered findings of fraud,” Brown said, adding that there is currently no pause on payments to the centers named in the video.

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Brown also acknowledged questions about the timing of the video visits, noting that regulators are seeking clarity on whether footage was recorded during operating hours or on days when centers were scheduled to be open.

Meanwhile, the manager of Quality Learning Center forcefully rejected the allegations, saying the video misrepresented the facility by filming outside posted hours and falsely suggesting the business was inactive.

“There’s no fraud going on whatsoever,” said Ibrahim Ali, the center’s manager. “Kids come to us, clients come to us, their parents come to us – they’re here daily, they leave on time, they come on time. There is no fraud going on whatsoever.”

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Ali said the center operates Monday through Thursday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., serving primarily after-school children, and has remained open for more than eight years without interruption.

He also disputed claims made during the state briefing that the center had closed due to space concerns, calling that assertion false.

“We haven’t closed. We’ve never closed,” Ali said. “There was never a time where kids were told to stop coming. There was never a time we told our employees to stop coming. All that is false information.”

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Ali said the scrutiny has been damaging to the business and the broader Somali community, arguing that allegations were amplified without evidence and unfairly linked to ethnicity.

“Are you trying to record that we’re doing fraud or are you trying to put the Somali name and the fraud in the same sentence?” Ali said. “That’s what really hurt us the last couple of days.”

State officials said additional site visits are underway and emphasized that any credible evidence of fraud would be investigated, while Ali invited media and inspectors to return during operating hours to observe normal activity.

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The response follows the release of a 42-minute video by Shirley, posted Friday on X and YouTube, documenting visits to several daycare centers in the state, including a location on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.

In the video, Shirley and another man are seen at what appears to be a largely inactive child care facility. The building also displays a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center,” even though the center is reportedly supposed to account for 99 children and received roughly $4 million in state funds.

During a Sunday appearance on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show,” Shirley said the alleged fraud in Minnesota was “so obvious” that a “kindergartner could figure out that there is fraud going on.”

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Shirley also suggested other journalists may be reluctant to pursue similar reporting out of fear of being labeled “Islamophobic” or “racist.”

“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” he said.

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The video has sparked widespread backlash, drawing criticism of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz throughout the weekend from several high-profile figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk.

Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.