Key Facts — All Alleged
| |
|---|
| Who | Not specified |
| Amount | Not disclosed |
| Location | Not specified |
| Program | Not specified |
| Status | Alleged |
Take Action
Contact your representative about fraud in .
American taxpayers deserve accountability. If this investigation concerns you, make your voice heard.
Sample Letter to Your Representative
Dear [Representative Name],
I am writing as a concerned taxpayer regarding alleged fraud in . Recent independent investigations have brought to light troubling patterns of waste and abuse involving taxpayer-funded programs.
I urge your office to:
- Investigate the allegations of fraud documented in this and related reports
- Support stronger oversight and accountability measures for federal and state funding
- Ensure that taxpayer dollars are protected from fraud, waste, and abuse
- Provide transparency on how these programs are being monitored
Our tax dollars should serve their intended purpose — not line the pockets of bad actors. I look forward to your response and action on this matter.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
Find Your Representative | Find Your Senators
Full Investigation Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. May contain errors.
It started with an anonymous tip to the Fox 9 investigators and it led us to a story that took three months of digging to uncover. » Tonight, Jeff Balian exposes a business that some of its own employees say is misusing millions of taxpayer dollars. » They made their move before the crack of dawn, targeting child care centers in Minneapolis, St. Paul in Apple Valley seizing computers and boxloads of documents as part of a massive fraud investigation. The raid included agents from the FBI, State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Fraud Unit. It went down coincidentally as the Fox 9 investigators were in the middle of our own probe of the same business. » It’s not difficult to see a pattern of what’s going on here. What is going on? » It’s terrible how it’s misused. » We spent three months digging through records, doing surveillance, talking with insiders. » It’s big. It’s bigger than I think the state realizes » to expose a scheme that’s costing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars a week. » It’s a lot of work and you have to make sure you know everything’s following the rules. » Yasmin Ali is the owner of Deco Family Centers. This is her giving a tour to an undercover Fox 9 producer. » A lot of people that we work with that are low-inccome family. » Ali tells our producer that many of her customers are on assistance. They qualify to have the government pay for their kids child care. They can get that help if they’re working, training for a job, or hunting for one. » I think it’s doing a disservice to the people that truly do need childare assistance. We interviewed four Deco employees who have intimate knowledge of the operation. They’ve also shared information with government fraud investigators. Two agreed to talk on camera as long as we disguised them. » So, they were misrepresenting a lot of what was going on there. » Exactly. According to our sources, Deco was actively recruiting women who qualify for child care assistance and offering them jobs at the centers, some to watch their own kids. A fact these moms confirm to us. » Hello. » Um, do you work here? » Yeah, » you do. How many children do you have? » Two. » Two. » And the children come here as well? » Yeah. » Who pays for their child care? » For the childare money? » Yes. » The county? » The county. Deco then bills the county for child care while the moms are supposedly working. » Were these legitimate jobs or [music] not? » No, there were too many that were being hired. We didn’t even need that many. » Our informants tell us that only a small percentage of the moms did anything. » 2% 2% » did some kind of work. » Did some kind of work. Sometimes they would come in, sign their children in, sign themsel in, and go grocery shopping. » Our sources say the more children a woman had to enroll in child care, the more she’d make per hour, even though she had the same job title as all the other moms. » The reason for [music] that is because then they um had more assistance for each of the families. On numerous occasions, we saw lots of women coming to the centers, each with four, five, or more kids in tow. » Her value was in how many children she had. » According to government records, Deco’s Minneapolis and St. Paul centers were each eligible to receive nearly $50,000 in child care assistance funds every two weeks. Do the math. That’s over 2 million a year. They’re making a ton of money. » According to our insiders, time sheets were submitted to the county, which inflated the hours the moms actually spent in the centers, allowing DeCo to bill the government for maximum child care time. » So, they fixed the time schedule. » Correct. » A lot of women they did this for. » Yes. State inspection reports obtained by the Fox 9 investigators show Deco has previously been cited for a number of logistical problems, including a lack of keeping accurate records of when staff worked. They were also fined for failing to do background checks on employees in order to provide documented proof that staff members received mandated safety training. » While employed there, I saw falsifying documentation. So, the record showed they’d received this training, but in fact, they had not. » Correct. » I stopped by Do’s Apple Valley office to speak with owner Yasmin Ali. She wouldn’t go on camera, but I did record our conversation. » We’re told that you were falsifying records to get child care money. » That is not true, but I, as I say, I’m not going to have any comments right now. » In addition to all the funds for child care, Deco was also getting public money for kids meals. The Minneapolis Center got nearly $90,000 for food in its first year of operation. This place did the catering. It’s owned by Yasmin Ali’s brothers. We obtained a copy of [music] the catering contract signed by Adarus Ali. We’ve seen his signature before on federal court documents. In 2009, Ali plead guilty to perjury. The Justice Department says he lied to a federal grand jury, testified he knew nothing about Somali men from Minnesota being recruited by a terrorist group to fight in their homeland, when in fact he sat in on a discussion, and even drove some of the men to Twin Cities International for their flight to Somalia. Ali did not respond to numerous requests by the Fox 9 investigators for an interview. Recently, the state rejected a plan by DECO to use even more public funds to have Ali’s restaurant do catering for additional child care centers. Regulators said the proposal was double the normal cost and full of inaccuracies and incomplete documents. » Item 29 is that one? » This one here? » Yep. » Fraud investigators are now sorting through thousands of records and computer files taken during the raid of Deco’s offices. So far, no charges have been filed. » Here she is. » We tried again to ask owner Yasmin Ali about the criminal investigation and what we were told by some of her own employees. » Could I ask you a few questions, please? » I’m not talking to anybody. If I were you, I would get out of here. You’re not allowed to be here. » I’m Fox 9 investigator Jeff Balian. The criminal investigation of Decode Child Care Centers is being spearheaded by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Because it is an ongoing investigation, they would not discuss the case or comment on the findings.