Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, owner and CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center in Minneapolis, has been charged on May 20 with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Prosecutors allege that Mahamud submitted roughly 13,000 false claims to Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) between October 2022 and December 2025, pocketing approximately $4.6 million in taxpayer funds. The charges follow earlier federal filings against Mahamud in the Feeding Our Future child nutrition fraud case. Investigators allege she falsely claimed thousands of meals were served to a federal program, resulting in over $850,000 being transferred to her center. Combined with the CCAP scheme, the alleged fraud amounts to more than $5.4 million.
Future Leaders Early Learning Center closed in January after state inspections and mounting scrutiny. Federal prosecutors have also charged other defendants in related Minnesota benefit-fraud cases, including additional daycare owners and individuals involved in housing-stabilization fraud.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen were present in Minneapolis for a major federal enforcement announcement targeting taxpayer fraud. The administration has executed more than 20 search warrants in Minnesota alone this past month.