A Somali daycare owner in Minneapolis pled guilty this week to a scheme that defrauded taxpayers to the tune of $4.6 million, following exposés by citizen journalist Nick Shirley.
Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, operated the Future Leaders Early Learning Center – located near George Floyd Square – for over 10 years, and last year received a whopping $3.7 million from the Child Care Assistance Program – more money than any other childcare service in Minnesota.
At the same time, Mahamud bilked the federal Feeding Our Future meal program for $850,000 by claiming to feed over 1,000 children two meals a day at her free daycare, bringing her fraud total to $5.4 million.
Mahamud was arrested in February, a month after she closed the daycare center, and had booked a flight to London the same day, suggesting she was attempting to flee the country.
Footage featured Mahamud showing up to court Thursday covering her face with a hijab, where she plead guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Mahamud claimed the issue was she hadn’t collected copays from parents, which would have ensured their children stayed enrolled at the free daycare while she received free money from the federal government.
According to a plea agreement, Mahamud faces 27-33 months in prison, however a judge has ultimate say on her sentence. She’s also required to pay $5.4 million in restitution.
Also Thursday, former daycare owner Jillaine Mertens, 42, who operated facilities in Kasson and Rochester, pled guilty to defrauding Minnesota’s Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program out of $426,382.
Mertens faces up to 20 years in prison.
Both women will be sentenced at a later date.
The fraudsters’ guilty pleas follow exposés by journalist Nick Shirley where he visited numerous daycares in Minneapolis uncovering how many were defrauding assistance programs by having no children at the facilities.
Mahamud’s daycare was featured in one of Shirley’s videos.
Visit TheAlexJonesStore.com to support Alex Jones and the crew, and pick up an all-new Dual Carbon Platinum Gravity-Fed Water Filter System, or the popular T-3 Trifecta Iodine Tincture!
2 Responses
There are millions more just like her. Maybe not on the same scale, but still fraudsters.
TrumpDeception’s sister.