The FBI on Tuesday raided nearly two dozen childcare centers in Minnesota as part of a larger investigation into fraud schemes in the Twin Cities area.
Officials said law enforcement teams executed 22 search warrants at childcare and daycare centers throughout Minneapolis beginning early Tuesday.
“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Childcare fraud in the state has frequently been connected to Minnesota’s Somali community, which came into focus last year following a video report from independent journalist Nick Shirley.
Mr. Shirley’s report showed desolate-looking buildings listed as childcare centers, often with no children on the premises.
Many of the businesses — including one that misspelled its name Quality Learing Center — received state funding to remain operational.
President Trump, in February’s State of the Union address, said he would drop the hammer on fraudsters after the issue came to a head in the North Star State.
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have already filed charges against people conning the state’s housing programs and services meant to assist families with autistic children.
In September, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota accused Asha Farhan Hassan of defrauding the state of at least $14 million by having Somali parents register their children for the program after getting a fake autism diagnosis.
Ms. Hassan paid the parents kickbacks ranging from $300 to $1,500 per month for each “autistic” child they signed up for the program, prosecutors said.
Officials also charged several people with defrauding Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Service program.
The program is designed to help disabled people and drug addicts find and keep homes, but prosecutors said the suspects used the cash to buy luxury cars and purchase overseas property.
Prosecutors said at least six of the suspects are of Somali descent.
A report by the City Journal said many of the Somalis connected to the separate fraud schemes sent money as remittances to their homeland.
Some of that money was later given to the Islamist terror group Al-Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda.
