Daycare Owner From Viral "Totally Legit And Not At All Empty" Video Charged In $4.6 Million Kiddie Fraud Scheme, Prosecutors Say

Fahima Egeh Mahamud, left, and Nick Shirley, right.
 (Getty Images; Hennepin County jail)

A woman allegedly tied to Minnesota's massive "Feeding Our Future" scandal has been charged in a daycare fraud scheme after being featured in a viral video by influencer Nick Shirley, authorities said.

She is accused of pocketing millions of dollars meant for children's meals, which is apparently much easier when the children are busy not existing.

Fahima Egeh Mahamud was charged Wednesday with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to court documents.

Earlier this year, Mahamud was indicted for her alleged role in the initial $250 million "Feeding Our Future" scheme. Prosecutors allege she enrolled Future Leaders Early Learning, a Minneapolis daycare where she served as CEO, into the federal child nutrition program, falsely claiming to serve thousands of meals at her childcare center. Sources confirm the meals were delicious, invisible, and enjoyed by exactly zero actual kids.

In addition to her involvement in the nutrition program fraud, Mahamud was federally charged Wednesday with a secondary scheme to defraud the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which provides daycare assistance to low-income families.

Between October 2022 and December 2025, she allegedly submitted over 13,000 fraudulent claims to CCAP totaling approximately $4.6 million. Prosecutors state the claims were fraudulent because she falsely certified that she had collected mandatory co-payments from families, which is a material requirement for federal reimbursement. In her defense, collecting co-payments from families that don't show up is basically impossible, especially when the building is quieter than a Biden press conference.

The Future Leaders Early Learning center was featured in Shirley's viral video, FOX 9 Minneapolis reported, which showed him visiting apparently empty, Somali-run childcare centers in and around Minneapolis while alleging widespread fraud. The video captured the shocking sight of tumbleweeds rolling through playrooms and staff staring at walls, proving that sometimes the most efficient government program is the one that doesn't bother with the children part.

The video served as a catalyst for an immediate and aggressive multiagency crackdown by the Trump administration, because apparently it takes a viral YouTube exposé to notice that millions are vanishing into thin air while zero toddlers are learning their ABCs.

Following its release, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) froze roughly $185 million in federal childcare funding to Minnesota. Additionally, over 2,000 federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were deployed to the Twin Cities to escalate investigations and enforcement, proving that sometimes the best way to fix a broken system is to stop funding ghost daycares and start asking basic questions like "Where are all the kids?"

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Gov. Newsom tries his Trump impression on Joe Rogan after he called Gavin a "f----ing con man"

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom got his skivvies in a knot after Joe Rogan referred to him as a f---ing con man." Newsom's press office account slammed Rogan's podcast as "failing" and claimed the host is being "relegated to irrelevancy."
I asked Grok if Joe Rogan's webcast is losing subscribers. Here is the answer: 

No, Joe Rogan's webcast (The Joe Rogan Experience) is not experiencing significant subscriber losses overall. It remains one of the most dominant podcasts globally, though there have been some short-term fluctuations in monthly downloads/views tied to political events.

California Governor Gavin Newsom completely lost his waste product on Joe Rogan via his official press office X account. The trigger? A resurfaced clip where the podcast giant labeled Newsom an "f---ing con man."

The all-caps meltdown read: "JOE 'LITTLE GUY' ROGAN IS TOO CHICKEN TO HAVE ME ON HIS FAILING PODCAST BECAUSE HE KNOW I'D CRUSH HIM, SO HE TAKES CHEAP SHOTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY AS HE GETS RELEGATED TO IRRELEVANCY. ALL TALK, NO ACTION. I'M READY WHEN YOU ARE, 'LITTLE GUY.' OR KEEP HIDING!!!! — Governor GCN."

It was vintage Trump-style bravado from the California governor's team, aimed at a 2023 clip of Rogan chatting with Patrick Bet-David about the 2024 race.

In that old conversation, Rogan did not hold back: "Nobody wants President Newsom either. Nobody believes in that guy. That guy’s a f---ing con man. I mean, everything he did in California, from trying to mandate vaccines for kids when it was totally unnecessary to being caught out in public without a mask and lying about the fact that he was outdoors. All of it. It’s just, nobody believes in the guy. He’s just a politician, just a stone-cold, narrative-driven politician, you know, and nobody thinks he’s a real human."

Rogan has kept the heat on Newsom more recently too. After Newsom's press shop mocked an investigation into daycare fraud by posting what looked like a satirical AI-generated image of investigator Nick Shirley, Rogan called it out on his show.

"Did you see what the governor posted, what Newsom’s press office posted?" Rogan asked his guest. "They posted a photo of Nick Shirley, like a fake Nick Shirley, like a meme — like Nick Shirley peeking into windows."

Back in October, Newsom had already taken to his personal X account to whine that Rogan was too scared to book him. 

The specific clip Newsom's team was having multiple hissy-fits over featured Rogan tearing into the governor's record: "You can’t ruin a city and then go on to ruin a state and say, ‘Guys, that was just practice. Once I get in as president, I’m gonna fix it all.'"

Rogan piled on: "Like, everybody’s LEAVING. You have the highest unemployment. You have the highest homelessness. Money’s missing. You killed Hollywood. Like, Hollywood doesn’t exist anymore. It’s literally gone. You mandated vaccines for kids that didn’t need them. He did horrible s---."

California's one-party disaster under Newsom keeps delivering the receipts, and Rogan is more than happy to read them aloud. Newsom can scream "little guy" all he wants. The numbers, the exodus, and the body count of failed progressive experiments do not lie.

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Ilhan Omar's un-Islamic winery and what we know

Rep. Ilhan Omar (Squad-MN) claims that her alleged inflated net worth was due to an accounting mistake. If this indeed is the case, then Omar's judgment in who she hires is obviously so poor that she is not qualified to be a member of Congress. But if you believe any average accountant could make such an enormous accounting error, then you need to question your own judgment. It simply doesn't happen to that extent.

Earlier this year, Omar reported a net worth of around $30 million, which brought up the question of possible fraud. Then Nick Shirley investigated a bunch of Somali-led scams highlighting the infamous 'Learing Center' (or Learning Center for you spelling buffs) in Minneapolis. The 'Learing Center' received $1.9 million in 2025 via Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and there are reports they received around $4 million total over prior years. It was Shirley who exposed the fraud as his investigation into the Somali-led scams brought attention to Omar's financial dealings.

Omar just dropped her latest financial disclosure bombshell, and holy moly, it turns out she and her hubby, [not the brother hubby] former political consultant Tim Mynett, somehow scraped together a net worth somewhere between a modest $6 million and a "whoa, nelly" $30 million by the end of 2024.

Nearly all of that cheddar comes from Mynett’s ownership in his two companies, which were worth a combined grand total of no more than $51,000 at the end of 2023. Lawmakers get to play the fun game of disclosing assets in vague ranges, so the exact size of Omar’s personal jackpot remains a delightful mystery. What we do know is that their net worth exploded by at least 3,500 percent in a single year. Nothing suspicious there, folks. Move along.

This miraculous cash avalanche might create a few awkward moments for the Minnesota Democrat, who spent February whining to Business Insider about a "coordinated right-wing disinformation campaign" that had the audacity to claim she’s worth millions. Omar dismissed any suggestion that she’s sitting on more than a few thousand bucks as "ridiculous" and "categorically false." She even hopped on X to taunt her critics: "maybe try checking my public financial statements and you will see I barely have thousands let alone millions."

Turns out Omar has her better half to thank for rocketing her straight into multimillionaire territory in 2024. Mynett’s California winery eStCru LLC and his venture capital outfit Rose Lake Capital pulled off financial miracles that would make even the most optimistic lottery winner blush. End of 2023? Combined stake worth no more than $51k, bank accounts with less than $700 between them, and the dynamic duo of Mynett and his partner, former DNC adviser Will Hailer, were getting sued by angry investors who claimed they’d been defrauded out of millions.

By the end of 2024? Mynett’s stake in the two firms had magically inflated to between $6 and $30 million, and he and Hailer settled those pesky lawsuits with cold, hard cash. The Washington Free Beacon has the receipts.

Mynett’s various business adventures have been a delightful recurring headache for Omar ever since the two tied the knot back in March 2020. They were both still married to other people when they first crossed paths, of course, but that didn’t stop them from starting up an affair while Mynett was raking in a cool $2.9 million from Omar’s campaign as her political consultant. That arrangement proved short-lived once the public started paying attention to all the cozy financial ties. By the end of 2020, Mynett wisely bailed on political consulting and pivoted with Hailer into the glamorous worlds of wine and venture capital. Because nothing says "fresh start" like leaving one ethically questionable gig for two more.

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Democratic Hochul aide under investigation over alleged migrant shelter bribes

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City council-member and her sister, a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks tied to city funding steered to a migrant shelter provider, according to a search warrant obtained by The Associated Press.

The March 19 warrant seeks evidence of possible criminal conduct involving Council-member Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat, her sister, Debbie Louis, Hochul’s assistant secretary for New York City intergovernmental affairs, and Edu Hermelyn, husband of Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

A spokesperson for Hochul said Debbie Louis was placed on leave last week after the governor became aware of the federal corruption probe. Someone answering a phone number associated with Louis ended the call when asked by the AP about the investigation, and the AP reported messages left for Farah Louis and Hermelyn were not returned.

New York City Council-member Farah Louis is reportedly under federal investigation for an alleged bribery scheme.  According to the warrant, investigators are examining whether the three received benefits in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS Home Care Inc., a Brooklyn nonprofit that historically provided in-home care for sick and elderly clients.

As New York City’s migrant influx intensified in 2022, BHRAGS broadened its work to include emergency shelter operations for asylum seekers and other homeless services. Since then, public records show the group has been awarded more than a dozen contracts worth upward of $200 million from the city’s Department of Homeless Services.

"This is political persecution driven by the far-right, targeting immigrants and the leaders who stand with them," a political insider tied to Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn told the New York Post on Monday. "There are no charges at this time, and the facts will ultimately lead to this case being dropped on its merits."

An attorney for BHRAGS Executive Director Roberto Samedy declined to comment to the AP.The warrant also seeks records of money transfers and communications involving Edouardo St. Fort, a former New York Police Department sergeant who retired in 2023. That same year, records indicate his firm, Fort NYC Security, secured a $3 million contract from the Department of Homeless Services. AP calls and emails seeking comment from St. Fort were not returned.The warrant’s existence does not mean charges are imminent. It indicates only that federal investigators convinced a judge they had sufficient grounds to search for and seize potential evidence.

The probe lands amid broader scrutiny over how New York City awarded emergency shelter contracts during the migrant crisis, when the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers strained the city’s shelter system and prompted officials under then-Mayor Eric Adams to rapidly expand housing capacity through outside providers.

Some of those arrangements have drawn criticism from watchdogs and political opponents, who questioned the speed, scale and oversight of the contracting process.

The figures named in the warrant are all connected to Brooklyn’s Democratic political establishment, which has been rocked by a series of ethics controversies in recent years. Hermelyn, who once served as a senior adviser to Adams, stepped down after questions were raised about whether his role as a Brooklyn district leader conflicted with rules barring certain dual government positions. He also went on to advise former Gov. Andrew Cuomo during Cuomo’s unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

The Trump administration, led by fraud investigation czar Vice President JD Vance, has prioritized federal law enforcement investigations nationwide.

Just this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Treasury Department announced it is offering whistleblowers a major financial incentive to help expose fraud, directing would-be tipsters to the Treasury.gov website, telling Fox News on Monday that the administration has already received more than 700 leads.

The Treasury’s whistleblower page says eligible tipsters can receive between 10 percent and 30 percent of monetary sanctions collected for successful actions.

While Minnesota fraud among the state's Somali community has made headlines thus far thanks to independent journalist Nick Shirley's reporting, Bessent actually praised that state for having some level of transparency that is not permitted in California or New York.

"That's why that young man, Nick Shirley, was able to go to see the scams, because it was: This is the name of the facility, this is the address, this is how much money they got," Bessent said. "Oh look, it's an empty storefront. There's no one here. New York, California are hiding it."

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Trump admin freezes 'all child care payments' to MN due to daycare fraud scandal

Gov, Tim Walz

Happy New Year's Eve, dear friends. As we close out 2025 with a bang, or in Minnesota's case, the sound of a money spigot being slammed shut, it's time to celebrate the Trump administration finally doing what Democrats have been pretending to do for years: actually fighting fraud.

The Department of Health and Human Services dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, announcing they've frozen every last dime of child care payments to the Land of 10,000 Lakes (and apparently endless scams) amid a massive fraud scandal that's been bubbling under the surface.

“We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota,” Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and Administration for Children & Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams declared in a video posted on X. “You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.”

HHS laid out three no-nonsense moves to tackle what they called the “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.” First up: flipping the switch on their “Defend the Spend system,” which now demands justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before any federal bucks head to a state.

Second: Thanks to the dogged investigative work of journalist Nick Shirley over recent months, O’Neill and his team have zeroed in on the folks featured in Shirley's videos. They're now demanding a “comprehensive audit of these centers,” covering everything from attendance records and licenses to complaints, investigations, inspections, and beyond.

Nick Shirley

Third: HHS is rolling out a dedicated fraud reporting hotline and email address so parents, providers, and everyday Americans can drop tips on the grifters.

“We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” the officials said.Shirley's viral videos have been spotlighting some seriously sketchy activity around Minneapolis, showing alleged daycare and autism centers that look more like ghost towns than places caring for kids. This all piles onto earlier revelations, like a federal prosecutor estimating at least $9 billion in fraud across Minnesota programs during Democratic Governor Tim Walz's tenure. 

The Daily Wire even reported that Minnesota was still cutting checks to an accused Somali fraudster running assisted living homes while he awaited trial for what was called the nation's biggest COVID scam, running a fake charity, no less.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson has flagged 14 Medicaid services in the state as “high risk” for fraud.

Shirley, fresh off an appearance on Fox News, laid it out plain and simple: “It’s so obvious,” Shirley explained, referring to the apparent fraud. “If you’re living in Minnesota, you have to raise your eyebrows and think, ‘What’s going on?’ Literally, if you drive around Minneapolis, you’ll see daycare centers, autism centers — you will then see transportation companies that have snow piled up as if they haven’t moved it in months.”

"A kindergartner could've figured out there was fraud going on."

Walz finally piped up on Tuesday, admitting the state had been “taken advantage of” by fraudsters chasing “greed” over helping kids and the elderly. But in classic Democrat fashion, he pointed the finger elsewhere: “We’ve spent years cracking down on fraud – referring cases to law enforcement, shutting down and auditing high-risk programs,” he said in a social media post. “Trump keeps letting fraudsters out of prison. To the national news just now paying attention, here’s what we’ve done to stop it.”

Ah yes, blame Trump, the guy whose administration just shut down the gravy train. Classic deflection from the party that's been overseeing this mess for years.Here's to more spigots getting turned off in 2026. Cheers!

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