A single operator of social adult daycare centers in Queens claimed tens of millions from Medicaid while sending thousands in campaign cash to Governor Kathy Hochul, and reporters who visited his facilities found them empty.

Campaign finance records reviewed by the New York Post show that social adult daycare centers in Flushing, Queens, contributed $55,000 to Hochul's 2022 gubernatorial campaign. Almost half of those donations trace back to two men: Baoli Zhang, a 69-year-old musician-turned-daycare-magnate, and Jiemin Shang, who runs at least two centers in the same district. Zhang personally gave $10,000 to Hochul and routed another $5,000 through his Bao Kang Adult Day Care. Shang's Livingwell Day Care and Finest Adult Day Care each kicked in $5,000.

The donations alone would be unremarkable. What makes them worth a closer look is the Medicaid money flowing in the other direction. Federal billing data show Zhang's network of businesses has claimed at least $32 million from Medicaid since 2018, on behalf of tens of thousands of patients. Yet when Post reporters visited daycare centers across Flushing last week, the facilities were empty of patients.

No patients. Tens of millions in taxpayer-funded billing. And $55,000 in campaign contributions to the governor whose administration oversees the program.

Billing surged from six figures to eight in six years

The growth in Medicaid claims at Zhang's and Shang's facilities is steep enough to raise questions on its own. Shang's Livingwell Day Care billed Medicaid $114,000 in 2018. By 2022, the same center billed $5.8 million. By 2024, that figure hit $8.05 million, a roughly 70-fold increase in six years. Zhang's Bao Kang went from $1.5 million in 2018 to $7.22 million in 2024.

Zhang also owns the Confucius Social Daycare Center in Manhattan's Chinatown, which billed Medicaid $15.7 million between 2018 and 2024. Another Zhang entity, AA Plus Management Inc., billed $2.65 million. Monthly revenue for Flushing daycares overall has nearly doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels.

An unnamed source with decades of experience in the Flushing daycare industry told the Post that the surge traces to the pandemic. "In 2021, [social adult daycare centers] were dying due to COVID," the source said. "Someone threw them a lifeline and must have said something like, 'Take care of me, I'll take care of you.' They're making more money than ever now."

Medicaid fraud is not a problem unique to New York. Federal prosecutors in Minnesota recently charged 15 people in Medicaid fraud schemes totaling $90 million, underscoring how vulnerable the program remains to organized abuse nationwide.

Nine daycare donors billed Medicaid $49 million in the same year they gave to Hochul

New York City has nearly 400 social adult daycare centers. Only nine made contributions of more than $5,000 to Hochul's 2022 campaign. Those nine centers collectively billed Medicaid $49 million that same year.

The donor list reads like a roster of Flushing storefronts: American Adult Daycare Center, Big Apple Adult Daycare, Blue Sky Adult Daycare, Greater New York Social and Health Adult Daycare, and Jy Adult Social Daycare in Brooklyn each gave $5,000. Cathay Adult Daycare, located in the same Baxter Street building in Manhattan's Chinatown where Zhang keeps a business address, also donated $5,000, and billed Medicaid $8.4 million in 2022. The Post noted that Zhang's direct connection to Cathay remains unclear beyond the shared address.

Zhang did not respond to the Post's numerous attempts to reach him for comment. Neither did Shang.

Hochul's spokesperson pushed back on any suggestion of impropriety. "Governor Hochul has taken significant action to root out waste, fraud and abuse, resulting in billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers, reforms to New York's Medicaid program, and the criminal prosecution of fraudsters," the spokesperson said. "Any facility caught breaking the law will be held accountable."

The spokesperson added: "Political contributions have no influence on government decisions."

That assurance is worth measuring against the numbers. The New York State Department of Health has referred 387 social adult daycare centers for investigation since 2021. A third of those were then sent to the Attorney General's office for legal action. But there is no indication in the Post's reporting that any of the nine centers that donated to Hochul's campaign have been formally charged with or accused of wrongdoing.

Zhang built a political network while billing taxpayers millions

Zhang's footprint extends beyond Hochul. Campaign disclosures show he donated $7,800 to U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng, a Democrat who represents the Flushing area, and $4,950 to State Senator John Liu, also a Democrat. Both attended a 2022 event hosted by Empire SADC, a center Zhang claimed ownership of on campaign finance forms, though city and federal data list two other individuals as its owners.

That discrepancy between who claims ownership on campaign forms and who appears in Medicaid records is a recurring pattern. Zhang listed himself as owner and manager of Bao Kang on campaign finance disclosure records, but local and federal Medicaid data list other individuals as Bao Kang's owners. The same mismatch shows up with Empire SADC.

Liu, for his part, defended Zhang. "Mr. Zhang is a longtime respected leader in the community, and I am proud to have had his support for decades," Liu told the Post. He added that he has visited several adult daycare centers in past years and each time saw "large numbers of senior citizens engaged in services and activities." Liu said that if fraud is suspected at any facilities, "full investigations and prosecutions should be undertaken."

The pattern of elected officials collecting donations from industries they are supposed to oversee, and then claiming ignorance when those industries face scrutiny, is familiar. In California, a Newsom appointee secretly wore an FBI wire as a federal corruption probe closed in on the governor's circle, another case where political relationships and government dollars intersected uncomfortably.

From Beijing conservatory to Flushing daycare empire

Zhang's biography, as reported in Chinese-language media, is an unusual one for a daycare operator. He grew up in Beijing and entered a prestigious music conservatory at age nine. He became a "master" of the erhu, a traditional two-stringed instrument, and performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and The Juilliard School. He sold CDs and cassettes of his performances across Asia and the United States.

Somewhere along the way, Zhang built a daycare empire in Flushing, a district now packed with 77 social adult daycare centers. In 2023, he founded the Asian American Adult Daycare Association, a nonprofit industry advocacy group. Shang serves as its secretary-general.

At a 2022 event, the same one attended by Meng and Liu, Zhang spoke about the generosity of New York's welfare system. "The New York State government is very generous to its residents," Zhang said, per a translated Chinese-language news report. "Whether it's home care, daycare, or medical assistance, it is one of the states with the best welfare in the United States."

He then offered a warning that, in retrospect, reads differently than he may have intended: "The elderly should cherish their current benefits and living environment; excessive consumption will only deprive their descendants of resources."

The same source familiar with the Flushing daycare industry described a deeper political dynamic. "A lot of the local politicians are using these guys," the source said. "If you get 100 people in there and you make them vote, it's very powerful for a primary. Every politician goes to these daycares for help."

That arrangement, campaign cash and voter mobilization in exchange for political protection, is the oldest form of machine politics. And it is not limited to New York. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is currently asking the Supreme Court to overturn his corruption conviction, a case built on a similar exchange of political favors for personal benefit.

Empty chairs, full invoices

Social adult daycare centers are meant to serve elderly and disabled adults who need structured daytime supervision, meals, activities, basic health monitoring. Medicaid reimburses the centers for each patient served. The system works only if the patients actually exist and actually show up.

Post reporters who visited Flushing centers last week found them empty of patients. The facilities that billed Medicaid millions had no one inside to bill for.

Fraud in the social adult daycare sector is not new. The Post has previously reported on SADCs as focal points for Medicaid fraud, and the problem extends beyond Flushing to other communities, including the Coney Island area among the Pakistani diaspora. Federal raids on daycare centers have occurred. But the scale of billing growth, and the simultaneous flow of campaign donations to the governor, raises a pointed question about whether Albany's oversight has been adequate or even serious.

Accountability for elected officials who benefit from suspect industries remains uneven across the country. In Corpus Christi, a mayor was recently suspended for 30 days on misconduct charges, a rare case where consequences actually arrived.

Hochul's office says contributions do not influence government decisions. The state health department says it has referred hundreds of centers for investigation. But 387 referrals since 2021, with a third sent to the Attorney General, have not produced any visible consequence for the specific centers that wrote checks to the governor's campaign.

Meanwhile, in cities like Minneapolis, council members have rallied behind defendants facing federal indictment rather than demanding accountability, a posture that has become distressingly common among Democratic officials when their allies face legal scrutiny.

The chairs in those Flushing daycare centers may be empty. But the Medicaid invoices are full, the campaign coffers are flush, and nobody in Albany seems to be in any hurry to explain the gap.