A month before we heard about Nick Shirley or the Quality Learning Center, Alpha News published information about the Fountain Autism Center in Burnsville, Minnesota. Another company in the neighborhood told Alpha News that the autism center was rarely ever open, so they began investigating and allegedly discovered what many are now discovering.
Alpha News reported that since October 2023, the Fountain Autism Center has billed the state of Minnesota for two million dollars under the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program.
Now that Shirley's investigative reporting has brought attention to more alleged fraud in Minnesota rather than accountability, Fountain Autism has apparently decided to threaten journalists who allegedly exposed them. On December 23, Fountain Autism sent a letter to Alpha News threatening to sue for “slander indirectly”. The company further stated that Alpha News was “misleading facts to falsely accuse my client of fraud.”
Play the laugh track.
The owners of an autism treatment center in Burnsville have threatened Alpha News with a defamation suit after the publication reported that the center billed nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds despite little activity on site, including the absence of children during visits and weeks of surveillance video viewed by reporters.
Fountain Autism Center LLC and co-owner Sharmake Hassan, through their attorney, sent a demand letter accusing Alpha News of defamation and demanding $100,000 and a complete retraction of reports that raised questions about whether the services provided match government payments the center receives.
Read more: Center for Quality Learning receives updates as federal fraud investigation continues
Tim Walz, caught off guard by massive Minnesota fraud, dismisses it and points to Trump
Upon receiving the letter, the Alpha News lawyer probably rolled his eyes and then drafted this response.
Burnsville Autism Center Seeks $100,000 from Alpha News Over Lawsuit Threat That 'Breaches Trust'
“…I'd like to go deeper into revealing your client's 'business' to show exactly what's going on in it. I am ready, willing and able to use the law to find out… pic.twitter.com/zuqDmj6jNg
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) December 30, 2025
Burnsville Autism Center Seeks $100,000 from Alpha News Over Lawsuit Threat That 'Breaches Trust'“…I'd like to go deeper into revealing your client's 'business' to show exactly what's going on in it. “I am ready, willing and able to use the law to expose yet another fraud perpetrated against Minnesota taxpayers,” attorney Chris Madel wrote in response.
Alpha News attorney Chris Madel formally rejected the claim, standing by the reporting and warning that any lawsuit would be met with an aggressive legal response. Madel is currently running as a Republican candidate in the Minnesota gubernatorial election.
“All of these facts support Alpha News in raising the question of whether the Fountain Autism Center provides real autism services to real children in order to support the $2 million it received from the State of Minnesota,” Madel wrote. “In such circumstances, claims of defamation requiring some false statement are susceptible to disbelief.”
Alpha News re-posted its original investigative video on X. There appeared to be one staff member present at the facility, but no child or counselor in sight. In an interview with an investigative reporter, the employee stated that most of the children came after school or participated in in-home services.
FLASHBACK: Autism center in Minnesota with little local activity receives $2 million in taxpayer funds
A taxpayer-funded autism therapy center in Burnsville has billed the state nearly $2 million since October 2023. However, a nearby business owner says the center is almost… pic.twitter.com/CgwhfJPYlo
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) December 27, 2025
But Alpha News collected weeks of surveillance footage of the entrance to the autism center, captured from a nearby security camera. The footage showed very few vehicles and no activity of children or staff entering or exiting the building. This included extracurricular time and weekends. It's hard to call out a lie when the footage seems to say otherwise.
The center's co-owner later told Alpha News that most services are provided in clients' homes and that the center operates at almost full capacity during the summer months. But a business owner who contacted Alpha News said the place appeared empty even during the summer period, which is considered its busiest.
[…]
The letter sought $100,000 in damages and a retraction of all Alpha News articles relating to the provider, claiming that the reports harmed the business and scared off potential customers.
The demand letter also alleged that the Alpha News article was a “false, targeted attack based on my client's ethnicity,” claiming that the publication's front page was “littered with extremist headlines targeting Somalis.”
However, neither Alpha News' exclusive investigation nor the video footage they published made any mention of the ethnicity of the business owners or employees, Somali or otherwise.
Oops. They kind of gave it away.
The lawyer also erroneously stated that the article did not provide information about the inspections that the center underwent.
In his Dec. 28 response, Madel categorically rejected the claims, saying the reports were substantially true, well documented and constitutionally protected.
“We deny all of your claims. The Alpha News Autism Story is clearly protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as Article I, Section 3 of the Minnesota Constitution,” the response letter said. “This was reported by highly respected journalists on a matter of public interest. Your client has no facts to support a libel claim. And it has no basis in law either.”
It is difficult to prove libel even for a private person. Despite the left's best efforts to undermine the right to free speech when it suits their purposes, the First Amendment protections for journalists, even independent ones, still remain.
Moreover, this investigation into the Fountain Autism Center also suggests their use (or potential misuse) of taxpayer money. Thus, the public has an interest in knowing how the money was spent. Now that federal law enforcement has become involved, it is doubtful that any of these organizations will be able to stand on their own two feet.
BREAKING: Federal law enforcement officials have found “substantial evidence” of health care fraud at Minnesota autism centers that billed the state $400 million for services that were not provided. pic.twitter.com/Y2U3yLYmF4
— TikTok Libraries (@libsoftikt) December 12, 2024
Thus, this threat of legal action against Alpha News is a sensible, vehement and false attempt to distract attention from the fact that free government funding may soon come to an abrupt end, if it has not already. And as scams increase in Minnesota and other parts of the country, expect to see more threatening letters and trash lawsuits.
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