Minnesota taxpayers just got played — and the evidence has been sitting in plain sight for a decade.
Governor Tim Walz claims he's "worked for years" to crack down on fraud when the proof shows he did nothing.
And surveillance video just proved Tim Walz a blatant liar.
The Scam Was Caught on Camera Back in 2015
Here's what Minnesota officials didn't want anyone remembering.
Surveillance footage from March 2015 — aired by Fox 9 in 2018 — shows exactly how the day-care fraud scheme worked.
Parents walk kids into Somali-run day-care centers in Hennepin County, check them in for the day, then leave minutes later with the same kids.¹
The centers bill the state for full-day care that never happened.
Some days nobody showed up at all, but the centers still submitted invoices to Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program.²
Then the kickbacks started flowing.
Another surveillance clip from inside one center shows a man handing an envelope stuffed with cash to a parent — payment for participating in the scam.³
"They were billing too much, they went up too high," then-Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman told Fox 9 in 2018. "It's hard to imagine they were serving that many people. Frankly if you're going to cheat, cheat little, because if you cheat big you're going to get caught."⁴
Except they didn't get caught — not really.
Four people were arrested in the 2015 case, two pleaded guilty to felony theft by swindle, and prosecutors made the remaining charges disappear through plea deals.⁵
The fraud continued unchecked while Minnesota officials looked the other way.
Walz Claims He's Been Fighting Fraud For Years
The resurfaced surveillance footage blew up on social media after independent journalist Nick Shirley released a 42-minute video last week showing current day-care centers in Minneapolis that appear completely abandoned despite receiving millions in state funding.⁶
One center displayed a misspelled sign reading "Quality Learing Center" and had no children present on a weekday.⁷
That facility received $1.9 million in 2025 alone, with a total of roughly $4 million in state funding, while licensed for 99 children.⁸
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Sunday the Bureau already "surged" personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota as part of an ongoing effort to "dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs."⁹
"The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg," Patel wrote on X.¹⁰
Attorney General Pam Bondi torched Walz's failure to stop the fraud that's been happening under his nose since he became governor in 2019.
"@TheJusticeDept has been investigating this for months," Bondi wrote on X. "So far, we have charged 98 individuals — 85 of Somali descent — and more than 60 have been found guilty in court. We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!"¹¹
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem deployed agents door-to-door in Minneapolis conducting what she called a "massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud."¹²
A whistleblower from Ramsey County revealed the Department of Human Services was warned about the fraud scheme all the way back in 2013.¹³
Forensic auditors uncovered four day-care centers exploiting Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program, with dozens more suspicious cases totaling over $100 million in annual fraud.¹⁴
The whistleblower — whose identity remains protected because they still work as an auditor — said nothing happened with those 60 other suspicious cases.¹⁵
"Personally, I want to know why," the whistleblower told KSTP. "I think this is a much bigger issue than just a handful of bad actors. This runs deep, and it runs all the way to the top of some departments and agencies."¹⁶
First Assistant United States Attorney Joe Thompson announced on December 18 that suspected fraud in Minnesota's Medicaid program had reached over $9 billion.¹⁷
The Governor Who Let Minnesota Burn Can't Hide Behind Excuses
Walz hit panic mode over the weekend when his office started pumping out statements claiming he's "worked for years to crack down on fraud."¹⁸
That's rich coming from the governor who watched fraud explode on his watch and did nothing.
Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth called out Walz's failure during a Monday press conference.
"No one's lost their job," Demuth stated. "No one has been publicly disciplined in any way."¹⁹
House Oversight Committee Chairman Mike Johnson announced the committee expanded its investigation into Minnesota's fraud schemes, demanding data from Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the Treasury Department, and the Justice Department.
"This jaw-dropping reporting is an indictment of both the national news media and feckless, dangerous office holders in Minnesota like Tim Walz, who have allowed these massive fraud schemes to occur for years," Johnson said.²⁰
Republican Congressman Tom Emmer torched Walz for posting about "Caturday" on social media Saturday instead of addressing the fraud allegations.
"What Walz refused to address for seven years, Nick Shirley uncovered in one day," Emmer said. "The fraud in Minnesota is so brazen and so vast that it's impossible Walz's administration didn't know about it."²¹
Five Republican state legislators called for Walz to resign, saying constituents want to know "why nobody is being held accountable" and "when somebody is going to fix it."²²
The surveillance footage proves Minnesota officials have known about this scam since at least 2015 — two full administrations before Walz even took office.
A 2018 Fox 9 investigation reported that cash-stuffed suitcases containing up to $1 million were routinely carried through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, with taxpayer money from fraudulent day-care claims physically flying overseas almost weekly.²³
Walz can scramble all he wants with his damage control statements, but the evidence doesn't lie.
The fraud has been documented, investigated, prosecuted, and allowed to continue for a decade while Minnesota's Democrat leadership refused to crack down on the networks siphoning billions from hardworking taxpayers.
President Donald Trump announced in November he would end "Temporary Protected Status" for Somalis in Minnesota in response to allegations of welfare fraud.²⁴
Trump called Minnesota a "hub of fraudulent money laundering activity" and targeted the state's Somali community after the full scale of the fraud schemes came to light.²⁵
Now with surveillance video proving the scam has been operating since 2015, Walz has nowhere to hide.
Minnesota taxpayers deserve answers about who knew what and when — and why nobody stopped it.
¹ Fox News, "Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota's daycare fraud scheme," December 29, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Daily Wire, "Minneapolis Daycare Fraud Has Been Going On At Least A Decade, And There's Video To Prove It," December 30, 2025.
⁶ Fox News, "Feds launch 'massive' investigation after viral video alleges Minnesota daycare fraud," December 29, 2025.
⁷ News Nation, "Minnesota taxpayer fraud: Federal agencies launch massive probe after viral video," December 30, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Fox News, December 29, 2025.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ Gateway Pundit, "MUST WATCH: Surveillance Footage Reveals Somali Daycare Fraud Playbook — Scheme Dates Back to 2013!" December 30, 2025.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ Ibid.
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ Daily Caller, "Resurfaced Video Shows How Somali Scammers Used Day Care Centers To Scam State," December 30, 2025.
¹⁸ Fox News, "Tim Walz pushes back on Minnesota fraud allegations following viral daycare video," December 28, 2025.
¹⁹ CNN, "First, a viral video. Then a surge of federal resources to investigate alleged child care fraud in Minnesota," December 30, 2025.
²⁰ News Nation, December 30, 2025.
²¹ Ibid.
²² CNN, December 30, 2025.
²³ Gateway Pundit, December 30, 2025.
²⁴ Daily Caller, December 30, 2025.
²⁵ CNN, December 30, 2025.
Related posts:
Congress Just Issued Subpoenas That Will Make Ilhan Omar Sweat
Billionaires Just Got Caught Bankrolling the Mobs Trying to Destroy America
House Democrats Face Brutal Choice After Clinton Epstein Defiance
