When was the childcare fraud case in Minnesota prosecuted?
Executive summary
The child-care fraud cases in Minnesota have been prosecuted in waves over the last decade rather than in a single, discrete trial: early daycare fraud prosecutions trace back to at least 2015, multiple state-level charges were brought through 2019, a major federal case against the Feeding Our Future nonprofit was filed in 2022, and broader investigations and additional indictments continued into 2024–2026 as federal prosecutors expanded their inquiries [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. A decade-long pattern, not a single prosecution
The record shows prosecutions and guilty pleas tied to daycare fraud going back to the mid-2010s: investigative reporting and law-enforcement action in 2015 led to charges and guilty pleas against operators accused of bilking child-care funding, establishing that prosecution of child-care fraud in Minnesota has been an ongoing process for years rather than a one-off event [1].
2. State prosecutions clustered around 2018–2019
By 2019 state prosecutors had charged at least a dozen Minnesotans and centers in the prior five years over schemes involving the Child Care Assistance Program, with investigators estimating fraud beyond the $5–6 million prosecutors could then prove — language repeated across multiple fact-check and explanatory pieces that place significant prosecutorial activity in the 2015–2019 window [2] [5] [6].
3. The Feeding Our Future federal case: charges filed in 2022
A prominent federal prosecution arose in 2022 when prosecutors filed charges against the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future for allegedly misusing federal funds distributed during the COVID era; that 2022 federal filing is one of the clearer benchmark prosecutions cited in national reporting and subsequent guilty pleas [3] [7].
4. Renewed and expanded federal actions into 2024–2026
Federal prosecutors continued to broaden inquiries beyond nutrition programs into child care and other safety-net programs, with reporting in 2024–2026 documenting dozens of indictments, convictions, and estimates by prosecutors that losses from multiple schemes could exceed $1 billion; by late 2025 and into January 2026 authorities and agencies were still announcing new charges, convictions and investigative steps [4] [3] [7].
5. The December 2025 viral video and January 2026 surge of scrutiny
A December 26, 2025 viral video alleging widespread fraud at Somali American–run daycares—amplified across social platforms and by national figures—prompted fresh visits and reviews by investigators and a flurry of federal administrative moves in early January 2026, including HHS policy announcements and a freeze on some child-care payments while investigations and documentation requests were processed [3] [8] [9] [10].
6. Who was prosecuted and how many—continued prosecutions and convictions
Reporting indicates the larger set of related fraud prosecutions across multiple programs has produced dozens of indictments and convictions: some outlets report that by late 2025–early 2026 prosecutors had indicted scores of people and obtained dozens of convictions in schemes tied to nutrition, autism services, housing supports and other programs, with many defendants of Somali descent among those charged in various cases [4] [3] [7].
7. What this means for the question of “when prosecuted”
Answering “when” requires acknowledging multiple, date-stamped prosecutions: notable state prosecutions began no later than 2015 and continued through 2019; a high-profile federal prosecution against Feeding Our Future was filed in 2022; and an expanded set of federal investigations and additional prosecutions were active and publicized through 2024–2026, especially after the December 2025 viral attention that spurred renewed scrutiny and administrative actions in January 2026 [1] [2] [3] [9].
8. Limits of available reporting and alternative perspectives
Coverage also stresses that not every facility named in viral claims has been charged—state investigators reported visiting centers after the December 2025 video and found them operating as expected in many cases—and many outlets and fact-checks caution against conflating investigative activity, administrative freezes and public attention with proven, adjudicated fraud in every instance [8] [2] [6]. Sources diverge on emphasis—some focus on long-standing prosecutions and convictions, others on the gaps between viral allegations and prosecutorial proof—so the timeline above compiles the concrete prosecution milestones documented in the reporting [7] [10].