No response from Walz’s office concerning FBI raids, state cooperation
FBI fraud raids: How state agencies were involved
After 22 child care and autism centers were raided by federal agents in the Twin Cities, some are questioning the state's involvement in uncovering fraud in the state. FOX 9's Karen Scullin has the latest.
(FOX 9) - A major federal raid on 22 Minnesota child care and autism centers has sparked debate over who deserves credit for uncovering the alleged taxpayer fraud.
State and federal agencies clash over credit for raids
Fraud raids carried out by FBI, BCA
The FBI and BCA carried out raids across Minneapolis on Tuesday that they say were focused on fraudulent state services linked to child care and autism centers. FOX 9’s Karen Scullin has the latest.
What we know:
On Tuesday, federal and local law enforcement raided 22 child care and autism centers across Minnesota as part of an ongoing investigation into taxpayer fraud. Gov. Tim Walz posted on X, "Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it."
What they're saying:
FBI Director Kash Patel responded, "Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today. But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship."
Vice President JD Vance, who leads the administration’s anti-fraud task force, said on FOX’s Will Cain Show, "We really did not get much help at all from the Governor’s office. Where we actually did get help was from state and local law enforcement officers who we assigned to the task force because the state government wasn’t doing anything so all credit goes to people on the ground the federal officers, the state officers who are working to uncover this fraud."
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told FOX 9: "We’ve been working on the investigations related to yesterday’s warrants with FBI, HSI and other federal partners for months."
FOX 9 visited the now closed and nearly empty Quality Learning Center after Tuesday’s raid. The center was discussed during a state fraud hearing about why its license was not revoked by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
State oversight and unanswered questions
MN lawmakers grill state officials over day care fraud
Department of Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown faced questioning from lawmakers at Tuesday's House fraud hearing, hours after FBI investigators raided nearly two dozen Twin Cities businesses. One lawmaker accused Brown of lying about the state's investigation into day care's following the release of a video by YouTuber Nick Shirley.
Timeline:
During the Minnesota House fraud committee hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers questioned state agencies about their response to fraud both in the past and today.
Rep. Kristin Robbins asked, "So they closed voluntarily. They were not shut down by your department?"
Tikki Brown, DCYF commissioner, replied, "They were not shut down by our department."
Robbins continued, "And you had no findings of fraud."
Randy Keyes, DCYF inspector general, explained, "On December 30 of 2025, we imposed the limits on receiving public funds and stop payments to Quality Learning Center. They notified us a little while after that. They were closing, and they closed on January 6. So we did not revoke their license or disqualify them."
The hearing also included testimony from a former Department of Human Services' investigator who said his efforts to address fraud were aggressively shut down in 2019.
There was a lot of back-and-forth at the hearing about the role state agencies have played in preventing fraud, both in the past and now.