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Minnesota officials and a daycare director denied fraud allegations Monday after a viral video questioned publicly funded daycares, with both sides disputing allegations that the facility was closed or improperly collected taxpayer dollars.
The allegations come from a viral video posted by an independent journalist Nick Shirley shows tours of several Minnesota child care centers, including the Quality Learning Center in Minneapolis, which appeared inactive during the tour despite receiving child care assistance funds from the state.
At a news conference Monday, Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said previous inspections of the centers did not reveal fraud and that regulators were making additional unannounced visits to review concerns raised by the video.
“We are aware of a video circulating that has brought local and national attention to child care centers in Minnesota,” Brown said. “While we have questions about some of the methods used in the video, we take the concerns the video raises regarding fraud very seriously.”
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Independent journalist Nick Shirley visited several daycares to inquire about childcare options, but found many facilities empty. (Fox News)
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 permitting process, with annual inspections conducted without notice to assess normal operations.
She said inspectors found children present during those visits and none of the previous examinations revealed fraud.
“None of these investigations “We have uncovered findings of fraud,” Brown said, adding that there is currently no pause in payments to the centers mentioned in the video.
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Brown also acknowledged questions about the timing of the video visits, noting that regulators are looking into whether the footage was recorded during business hours or on days the centers were scheduled to be open.
Meanwhile, the director of the Quality Learning Center forcefully rejected the allegations, saying the video misrepresented the facility by filming outside of posted hours and falsely suggesting the business was inactive.
Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown has denied any fraud, despite a recent report from independent journalist Nick Shirley. (Pool)
“There is no fraud,” said Ibrahim Ali, the center’s director. “Kids come to us, customers come to us, their parents come to us – they’re here every day, they leave on time, they arrive on time. There’s no fraud.”
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Ali said the center operates Monday to Thursday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., mainly catering to children after school, and has remained open for more than eight years without interruption.
He also disputed claims made during the state briefing that the center closed due to space concerns, calling the claim false.
Quality Learning Center director Ibrahim Ali has denied any fraud, despite a recent report by independent journalist Nick Shirley. (Pool)
“We didn’t close. We never closed,” Ali said. “There has never been a time where kids have been told to stop coming. There has never been a time where we have told our employees to stop coming. This is all false information.”
Ali said the scrutiny has been damaging to the company and the Somali community as a whole, arguing that the allegations were amplified without evidence and unfairly linked to ethnicity.
“Are you trying to register that we are doing fraud or are you trying to put the name Somali and fraud in the same sentence?” Ali said. “That’s what really hurt us the last few days.”
State officials said additional site visits were underway and stressed that any credible evidence of fraud would be investigated, while Ali invited media and inspectors to return during business hours to observe normal activity.
The response followed the release of a 42-minute video by Shirley, posted Friday on X and YouTube, documenting visits to several daycares around the state, including one on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.
In the video, Shirley and another man are seen in what appears to be a largely inactive daycare. The building also displays a misspelled sign that reads “Quality Learning Center,” even though the center is supposed to serve 99 children and has received about $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 there’s fraud going on.”
TIM WALZ FALLS OUT ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD IN MINNESOTA FOLLOWING VIRAL DAYCARE VIDEO
Tim Walz speaks onstage during the SXSW 2025 conference and festival at the Austin Convention Center on March 8, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
Shirley also suggested that other journalists might be reluctant to pursue similar reporting for fear of being labeled “Islamophobic” or “racist”.
“Fraud is fraudand we work too hard just to pay taxes and enable fraud,” he said.
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The video sparked widespread backlash, sparking criticism of the Minnesota governor. Tim Waltz 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.
Sophia Compton of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
