Minnesota Daycare Owner Charged Over Alleged Daycare Fraud Scheme

The charges come months after video featuring empty and closed daycare centers receiving large sums of tax dollars went viral.

Minnesota State Capitol building in Minneapolis on June 20, 2020. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

A Minneapolis daycare owner was charged on May 20 with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, allegedly submitted more than 13,000 false claims to Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) between 2022 and 2025, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday. About 6,144 of these claims required co-payments to be collected from families.