Somalia al-Shabaab Terrorists Reap Financial Windfall From Million Dollar Minnesota Somalia Day Care Fraud Cases Claims PI Bill Warner

Somalia al-Shabaab Terrorists Reap Financial Windfall From Million Dollar Minnesota Somalia Day Care Fraud Cases Claims PI Bill Warner in Sarasota Fl. Federal investigators warn Minnesota welfare fraud may have helped fund Al-Shabaab. Federal prosecutors say Minnesota is facing one of the largest welfare-fraud waves in U.S. history—schemes so widespread and lucrative that some of the stolen money may have ended up in the hands of Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization operating in Somalia. A video purportedly released by Somalia-based terror group al-Shabab had called for attacks on the Mall of America 60 E Broadway, Bloomington, MN and other shopping centers in Canada and England.

According to a recent report in City Journal, former federal counterterrorism officials believe portions of the money stolen from Minnesota’s Medicaid and social-service programs were routed overseas through informal cash-transfer networks known as hawalas. Once the funds reached Somalia, investigators say, Al-Shabaab routinely took a share—regardless of the sender’s intentions. 20 people from Minnesota who have been named in federal charges for allegedly financially aiding the al-Shabaab terrorist group. 

DOJ PRESS RELEASE; Somalia al-Shabbab terrorist Cholo Abdi Abdullah was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison following his conviction for multiple crimes that included conspiring to provide — and providing — material support to the foreign terrorist organization al-Shabaab, and conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft, and commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Somalia al-Shabaab Terrorists Reap Financial Windfall From Million Dollar Minnesota Somalia Day Care Fraud Cases Claims PI Bill Warner, is this how Cholo Abdi Abdullah was funded?

Numerous individuals from Minnesota have faced federal charges for allegedly supporting al-Shabaab, including Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, convicted of fundraising for the group; and young men like Hamza Ahmed, Zacharia Abdurahman, and Hanad Musse, charged with attempting to join the terrorist group, highlighting a large-scale investigation into recruitment and funding from the Somali-American community in the state of Minnesota. 

More recently, since late 2024 and throughout 2025, there has been an intense focus on whether billions of dollars stolen through various Minnesota state and federal assistance programs (including the "Feeding Our Future" child nutrition program, housing aid, and autism therapy schemes) may have indirectly funded al-Shabaab. The U.S. Treasury Department and a House committee are currently launching probes into whether state and federal tax dollars were funneled to al-Shabaab through these schemes.

Al-Shabaab pledged allegiance to al-Qa’ida in 2009 and officially became an al-Qa’ida affiliate in 2012. The group maintains strong connections to al-Qa’ida’s senior leaders and coordinates its publication of propaganda with al-Qa’ida. Al-Qa’ida leadership has publicly praised al-Shabaab attacks in Somalia and Kenya in recent years. Al-Shabaab generates around $100 million per year through multiple funding streams, including extortion of local businesses and individuals and fraudulent charities. Hassan Afgooye (Afgooye), a key leader of al-Shabaab. Afgooye oversees a complex financial network, whose activities range from involvement in sham charities and fundraising to racketeering and kidnapping in support of al-Shabaab and was involved with al-Shabaab’s overseas (USA) financial transactions.

US Navy SEAL Team 8 member Kyle Milliken was killed in a Somalia search and destroy mission on May 5th, 2017. NY TIMES, The member of the Navy SEALs who was killed in Somalia was moving alongside Somali security forces approaching a complex inhabited by al-Shabaab militants when the insurgents opened fire, American military officials said on Tuesday. The SEAL member, Kyle Milliken, a 38-year-old senior chief petty officer, died on Friday during the mission in support of Somali Army forces fighting the al-Shabaab, the Islamist militant group. Two other Americans, including a Somali-American interpreter, were wounded when they came under fire during the mission around 40 miles west of Mogadishu, the capital. DEATH TO AL-SHABAAB.

Bill Warner, a private investigator from Sarasota, Florida, gained some notoriety in the late 2000s for his self-initiated efforts to track and shut down websites he linked to various extremist groups, including the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab. Motivation and Methods: Bill Warner PI, who has ran a detective agency for 31 years, began his personal, unpaid mission to counter terrorist websites in 2003. He described his focus as an effort to combat what he perceives as a "totalitarian ideology" associated with certain interpretations of Islam and Sharia law, a perspective detailed further in information about his work as an investigator.

Targeting al-Shabaab: Bill Warner PI specifically targeted an al-Shabaab website in May 2008, shortly after the U.S. government officially designated the organization as a terrorist group. His investigation revealed that the website was being hosted by a U.S.-based internet company, Dotster Inc. of Vancouver, Washington.
Outcome of the Investigation: After federal government involvement and an order, the hosting company eventually took the al-Shabaab website down in January 2009. 

The Omar Hammami Case; A key element that particularly captured PI Bill Warner's attention was an al-Shabaab web posting from April 2007, which featured a fair-skinned man who stood out from the other Somali fighters. This individual was known by the name Abu Mansour al-Amriki (literally "the American"). 

PI Bill Warner's observations, combined with media reporting (specifically by Fox News), helped identify this individual as Omar Hammami, a 25-year-old American from Daphne, Alabama, who had attended Daphne High School and the University of South Alabama. Hammami later faced a federal indictment in Mobile, Alabama, on charges of providing material support to terrorists. A Web site used by a Somali jihadist group that has been tied to a suspected terrorist from Daphne was hosted by an Internet company based in the United States, according to a private investigator. Bill Warner, an investigator from Sarasota, Fla., who tried to shut down a number of Web sites linked to extremist groups, said he first targeted an al-Shabaab Web site in May 2008 after the U.S. government labeled it a terrorist organization.

Context of al-Shabaab in Somalia; To truly appreciate the context of Warner's efforts, it is important to understand that al-Shabaab is a major, dangerous insurgent group with deep roots in Somalia.  Origins and Ideology: Emerging in the mid-2000s from the militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union, al-Shabaab established itself amidst a power vacuum, at one point controlling much of Mogadishu and southern Somalia. The group has strong ties to al-Qa`ida and has been involved in a complex rivalry with the Islamic State group more recently.

Tactics and Impact: Al-Shabaab is responsible for numerous high-profile attacks, including suicide bombings, assassinations of peace activists, aid workers, and journalists, and has been known to block aid during famines. They are a persistent threat to stability in the region, and efforts to defeat them involve a complex mix of security operations, political reconciliation, and economic growth.

In conclusion, PI Bill Warner's involvement represents a unique instance where a private individual's initiative in monitoring extremist online activity intersected with significant, real-world counterterrorism cases involving a prominent, dangerous group in Somalia.


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