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The Highwire with Del Bigtree

THE REAL VICTIMS OF MINNESOTA’S FRAUD SCANDAL

The Highwire with Del Bigtree

The Highwire with Del Bigtree

News, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.93.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Autism provider and Holland Center founder Jennifer Larson joins Del Bigtree to expose how Minnesota’s sweeping response to a massive Medicaid fraud scandal is punishing the wrong people. Not just targeting criminal actors, the state has frozen payments and deployed AI-driven systems that delay reimbursements, pushing legitimate autism care providers to the brink of closure.
As legitimate centers struggle to keep their doors open, vulnerable children and families are caught in the crossfire. Larson explains how a blunt, bureaucratic crackdown has created a second crisis, one that threatens access to essential care.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

There's news stories that we watch sometimes in the news and sometimes we cheer and sometimes we're upset,

0:06.0

but a lot of times we never get the whole story. And a lot of times we may not be seeing all the repercussions that are taking place in that story.

0:15.0

Well, this particular news story, you saw it, it's up in Minnesota. It's not the one that's really on flames right now.

0:21.4

It's the other one. The other one about the fraud, like the biggest fraud that has ever been

0:25.6

discovered, like billions of dollars being stolen for fake daycares. You remember this one.

0:32.2

Growing investigation into a fraud scheme involving taxpayer money that was supposed to be spent on social services.

0:38.3

A viral video appears to expose that alleged fraud at several Somali-operated childcare

0:43.6

centers in Minneapolis.

0:45.5

The business is licensed for 99 kids, but when independent reporter Nick Shirley went

0:50.5

by this month, the place appeared completely empty.

1:00.6

There's no one here right now. It's midday on a weekday. The video, which alleges the daycare is fake,

1:07.2

says the facility had received $4 million in state funds. This comes as Wallace's administration faces allegations of widespread fraud connected to state social services.

1:12.3

Hello, we'd like to ask where the money's going? Answer the question, are there children?

1:16.8

There's no children inside this building. FBI director Cash Patel claims that case is just the tip

1:21.5

of a very large iceberg. Now, he says he's surging more resources to Minnesota to investigate.

1:27.7

The Trump administration says it is freezing federal funding for child care in the state

1:31.9

and will require justification and a receipt or photo evidence from all providers who receive

1:37.9

the funding nationwide.

1:40.2

I think a lot of us were like, good, geez.

1:43.3

I mean, are taxpayer money going to criminals, billions?

1:47.8

I mean, when they're starting to talk about the numbers across Minnesota billions, tens of

1:52.7

billions, maybe hundreds of billions. Look at this epicenter of fraud. Minnesota's empty stomachs,

...

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