AG Pam Bondi credited independent journalist Nick Shirley for posting a video on X showing ‘Americans the scale of fraud’ in Minnesota.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Dec. 29 that the Department of Justice has been investigating Minnesota’s recently exposed day care fraud for months and that nearly 100 individuals have been charged since 2022, 85 of whom are of Somali descent.
Bondi credited independent journalist Nick Shirley for posting a video that reported $110 million of alleged and proven fraud among Somali-owned day cares in Minnesota. That video has now garnered more than 120 million views on X. The attorney general said that more than 60 individuals have already been found guilty in court.
“[Shirley’s] work has helped show Americans the scale of fraud in Tim Walz’s Minnesota,” Bondi posted on X, adding that more prosecutions are coming.
Bondi said the DOJ, along with U.S. Attorney General for Minnesota Daniel Rosen, has been working to build cases against the alleged fraudsters. Rosen was appointed to his position in October.
She said her agency has also worked closely with other federal partners, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, on the prosecutions.
Bondi’s X post highlighted several Minnesota cases that have already been prosecuted.
Chavez-DeRemer, in a social media post, accused state leaders such as Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) of allowing the fraud scheme to develop.
“We will bring an end to the Somali fraud network,” the Department of Labor posted on X.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In one example, which Bondi described as the largest COVID-19 fraud case in the country, a federally funded child nutrition program called Feeding Our Future claimed to have provided millions of meals for children.
“Few, if any, were fed,” Bondi said in her announcement.
The attorney general reported that 78 defendants have been charged to date in the scam and that 57 have been convicted. Of the defendants, 72 are of Somali descent and five are currently fugitives in Africa, Bondi said.
She said that between $300 million and $400 million in U.S. taxpayer money has been sent to East Africa and the Middle East.
By Troy Myers
