Tim Walz keeps insisting he inherited a fraud mess and fixed it.
The receipts tell a different story.
And surveillance video from 2015 just exposed what Tim Walz inherited and kept hidden for six years.
Minnesota Officials Knew About The Scam Since March 2015
Resurfaced surveillance footage from a 2018 Hennepin County fraud case revealed how deep Minnesota's daycare fraud scheme runs — and how long state officials ignored it.
The video, timestamped March 2015, shows parents checking children into daycare centers only to walk out minutes later with the same kids.¹
Sometimes nobody showed up at all, but the centers still billed Minnesota for full-day services.
One clip caught a man handing an envelope stuffed with cash to a parent — kickback payments for participating in the scam.
Under the scheme, daycare operators recruited low-income families qualifying for child care assistance funding.
Parents would sign kids in, immediately leave with them, and the centers claimed state reimbursements for services never provided.
The 2018 Fox 9 investigation documented fraud dating back at least to 2015 — a full decade before this weekend's viral exposé.²
Four metro daycare centers stole over $1 million combined before Hennepin County prosecutors finally moved.
FBI Director Kash Patel Says This Is Just The Beginning
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Sunday that federal agents surged into Minnesota before Nick Shirley's viral video even dropped.
"The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg," Patel wrote on X.³
The Feeding Our Future investigation already uncovered a $250 million scheme that diverted federal food aid during COVID, producing 78 indictments and 57 convictions so far.³
Prosecutors even charged defendants with bribing a juror with $120,000 in cash.
"Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide," Patel stated.⁴
He warned that many convicted fraudsters face referrals to immigration officials for possible denaturalization and deportation.
Walz Inherited The Smoking Gun And Did Nothing
Minnesota Democrats had years to stop this before Walz took office as governor in January 2019.
The surveillance footage was used in Hennepin County prosecutions as early as 2018, documenting fraud stretching back to March 2015 under Democrat Governor Mark Dayton.
When Walz inherited the governor's office in 2019, he had surveillance footage, criminal convictions, and years of investigative journalism proving the pattern.
He chose to do nothing meaningful for six years.
Documents show Attorney General Keith Ellison's office ignored a whistleblower who accused Feeding Our Future's leader of breaking the law in 2018 and 2019 — right as Walz was taking power.⁵
Ellison's office referred the whistleblower to other agencies and buried the complaint.
By 2022, more than $200 million had vanished through that nonprofit alone.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer launched a probe after whistleblowers claimed Department of Human Services employees destroyed evidence.⁶
Some fraudulently obtained funds allegedly went overseas to support terrorist organizations including Al-Shabaab and ISIS.
DHS employees created an X account claiming to represent 480 workers who tried warning Walz early on about the fraud.
"Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota," they posted.⁷
Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson estimated that more than $9 billion in federal Medicaid funds may have been stolen since 2018.
Walz's administration immediately attacked that estimate as "sensationalized" despite sitting on documented fraud for years.
Fox 9 exposed Yasmin Ali's Deqo Family Centers stealing millions back in 2013.⁸
Ramsey County auditors found it and reported it.
Dayton's administration watched it happen, then handed Walz the evidence when he took office in 2019.
Federal prosecutors described "staggering, industrial-scale fraud" that goes far beyond "a handful of bad actors."
Walz now claims he's appointed fraud investigators and created new oversight units.
That's retreat mode after getting caught continuing a cover-up his Democrat predecessor started.
The surveillance video from 2015 proves Minnesota Democrat officials watched this scam operate in real-time for years — then Walz inherited the evidence and let billions disappear on his watch.
¹ Peter Pinedo, "Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota's daycare fraud scheme," Fox News, December 29, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash), X post, December 28, 2025.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ "Here's what to know about Minnesota's fraud crisis amid national scrutiny," Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 23, 2025.
⁶ House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Chairman Comer Launches Investigation into Massive Fraud in Minnesota's Social Services System on Governor Walz's Watch," November 26, 2025.
⁷ "Minnesota DHS workers accuse Gov. Walz of ignoring fraud warnings," NewsNation, November 29, 2025.
⁸ "Through the years: A decade of investigating fraud in Minnesota," Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, December 29, 2025.
