What I Saw Inside Autism Sibs Universe — And Why I’m Calling for Accountability

I don’t usually talk about my contracting work on the campaign trail. But what I experienced firsthand while working for Autism Sibs Universe, a Plymouth-based nonprofit that receives significant taxpayer funding, is something CD3 voters deserve to know about.

How I Got Involved

In October of last year, I was hired by Autism Sibs Universe to build a custom fence, gate, and RV parking pad. During that job, the organization’s treasurer, Amrish, told me: “Tyler, we have a lot of business for you.” At the time, something about that struck me as off, but I didn’t think much more of it and finished the work.

One detail has stuck with me since: why would a nonprofit serving vulnerable adults invest in an RV parking pad instead of, say, a school bus? An RV isn’t built to safely transport people who may need mobility support or supervision. It didn’t make sense to me then, and it still doesn’t.

The Second Project

After finishing the parking pad, Amrish asked me to meet him at another Autism Sibs Universe location in Plymouth. There, the scope of work discussed was extensive:

• Replacing 25–50 standard door handles with biometric fingerprint scanners — restricting who could enter certain rooms
• Installing automatic sinks
• Removing roughly 1,500 square feet of drywall, adding soundproof insulation, and finishing new drywall

We agreed on a project worth just over $20,000.

During the process of scoping and quoting this work, I met multiple times — for hours at a time, across numerous visits — with Indu, the organization’s owner, Amrish, and roughly ten other employees at their facilities.

At no point, at any location, across any of these visits, did I see a single vulnerable adult being served.

A Red Flag I Couldn’t Ignore

At one point, Amrish invited me to lunch to discuss a personal project — a garage he wanted built at his own home. I gave him a quote and asked how he’d like to structure payment: financing, cash, check, or card, as I offer to all my customers.

Amrish told me that Indu and the organization were planning to pay me my entire project salary upfront, so I wouldn’t need financing — while also continuing to pay him weekly so he’d still have income coming in.

As a licensed life and health insurance agency owner with anti-money-laundering training required by the state, that arrangement raised immediate red flags for me. I canceled the contract and started looking into the organization more closely.

What the Financial Records Show

Public IRS filings for Autism Sibs Universe show a financial picture that raises real questions:

• In fiscal year 2023, the organization reported $1,120,153 in total revenue (96.9% of it “program services” billing) against $1,313,891 in total expenses — a net loss year
• The organization holds a fiscal sponsorship relationship with a separate nonprofit, Sewa-AIFW, through which additional large grant amounts have flowed
• Roughly 47% of all 2023 expenses went to salaries and compensation, spread across a small group of individuals, several sharing the same last name

You can review these filings yourself at ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and CauseIQ.

Going Back

Eventually, I went to their office to ask questions directly. The door was unlocked and open. I asked to speak with Indu. An employee I recognized from my earlier visits told me Indu wasn’t there, but offered to help. I identified myself as Tyler Bass, a candidate for U.S. Congress, and told her I wanted to ask about where the money was going — specifically, how an organization that had received millions in public funding could show so little evidence, in my direct experience, of serving vulnerable adults at the facilities I had personally worked in.

She didn’t have an answer. She asked me to leave, and I did. I later posted video of that visit publicly.

A Cease-and-Desist, and a Trespass Notice

Shortly after that video went public, I received a cease-and-desist letter from Chestnut Cambronne, the law firm representing Autism Sibs Universe, demanding I stop making public claims about the organization. Along with it came notice that I am now considered trespassed from their property.

I find that response telling. A congressional candidate asking public questions about how a taxpayer-funded nonprofit is spending its money was met not with answers, but with a legal threat and a ban from the property — while, as of this writing, the organization still owes me money for work I completed there.

If an organization has nothing to hide, transparency should be the easy answer. Lawyering up instead raises more questions than it answers.

I Reported This Months Ago. Nothing Happened.

Long before I ever posted a video, I raised concerns about Autism Sibs Universe with the appropriate authorities. I reported what I’d seen to state Representative Kristin Robbins, who chairs the Minnesota House’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee and ran for Governor this year on a platform built around stopping fraud in public programs. I also filed a report with the FBI.

Months later, nothing has changed. No public action. No follow-up that I’m aware of.

What I have seen is a photo of Autism Sibs Universe being honored as a “Grand Sponsor” at a BAPS Charities walk/run event — posing for a certificate photo with Representative Robbins herself, the same official whose committee exists to catch exactly this kind of concern.

I want to be fair here: I don’t know what happens behind closed doors at a legislative committee or inside an FBI field office. Investigations can be quiet. But from where I sit — as the person who raised the flag, who has still not been paid what I’m owed, and who was met with a cease-and-desist instead of answers — “quiet” and “nothing” look identical. And CD3 taxpayers deserve better than either one.

Why This Matters

To be clear about what I’m asserting and what I’m not: I’m sharing what I personally witnessed and experienced as a contractor who worked inside this organization’s facilities on multiple occasions. I am not a prosecutor, an auditor, or a court, and I have not proven a crime was committed. What I can say is that my firsthand observations — the absence of visible clients at facility after facility, the unusual payment offer I was made, and the financial picture in the organization’s own public filings — raise serious questions that deserve a real investigation by the appropriate state and federal oversight bodies, including the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

My Proposal to Fix the System

This isn’t just about one organization. It’s about a grant and waiver system in Minnesota that makes it too easy for a newly formed entity to access significant taxpayer dollars with too little proof it can responsibly deliver services. My proposal as a candidate for Congress:

Before an organization can receive state or federal disability-services grant funding, it should be required to show:

• Two years of tax returns demonstrating the organization can sustain itself
• A track record of legitimately collecting service waivers (like DD waivers) through actual service delivery — not just paperwork
• Sound financial standing, without excessive debt

Right now, new organizations can be formed, poorly complete grant applications, still receive approval, and effectively use taxpayer money to “try out” running a business — sometimes purchasing property or vehicles along the way — with far too little proof they’re actually delivering the services they’re funded for.

CD3 taxpayers, and the vulnerable adults these programs are supposed to serve, deserve better than that.

We need accountability. That’s what I’ll fight for in Congress.

Tyler Bass is the Republican nominee for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District. Learn more at bassforcongress.com.