Thursday June 20, 2024
Attorney General Keith Ellison's office said the cases involve false documentation, billing for services not provided and taking kickbacks, among other crimes.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Attorney General's Office has charged five people in a pair of alleged fraud schemes investigators say cheated the Medicaid system out of more than $10 million.
In the first of two separate cases, AG Keith Ellison says two defendants - Abdifatah Yusuf and Lul Ahmed - used an agency called Promise Health Services LLC to bilk Medicaid, claiming to provide home and community-based (waivered) services. Investigators from the AG's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) say instead, Yusuf and Ahmed fraudulently obtained Medicaid funds by billing for services not provided, overbilling, using false documentation and providing kickbacks to induce clients to receive “services” from the agency.
The charges allege that while Yusuf operated Promise, the agency stole more than $7.2 million in Medicaid funds, using the money to fuel a lavish lifestyle that included luxury cars, home furnishings and clothing.
Yusuf is charged in Hennepin County District Court with one count of racketeering and six counts of felony aiding and abetting theft by swindle, while Ahmed is charged with two felony counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle.
As part of the same investigation a third individual, Abdiweli Mohamud, is charged with one count of racketeering and six counts of felony aiding and abetting theft by swindle. MFCU investigators say Mohamud owned a company known as Minnesota Home Health Care LLC, but allege that he allowed Abdirashid Said, a federally excluded provider, to control the company.
Under Mohamud’s ownership, the AG's office says Minnesota Home billed over $300,000 in personal care assistant services that were not documented (or fraudulently documented) and more than $200,000 for services that were not properly supervised. In total, investigators say Minnesota Home received over $1.8 million in Medicaid funds the company was not entitled to.
“Minnesotans who rely on Medical Assistance have a right to expect they’ll receive all the care, dignity, and respect they’re entitled to. Minnesotans trying to afford their lives have a right to expect that every one of their tax dollars will be spent properly and legally," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a released statement. "People who commit Medicaid fraud violate both of those rights. My office and our partners continue to work aggressively to hold these and all offenders accountable — and we will keep doing so.”
In the second case, the AG's office charged two people in Hennepin County District Court for their alleged role in defrauding the Minnesota Medical Assistance program out of more than $1.4 million. Investigators say the defendants, Charles Omato and LaTonia Jackson, operated a non-emergency medical transportation company called Driving Miss Daisy. Both are accused of billing for services that were not provided at all or exaggerating the times and/or distances of rides.
KARE 11 first reported on the AG's ongoing crackdown on Medicaid fraud back in September of 2023 and then followed up in October and December when three people were charged in what (at the time) was the largest case the office had ever prosecuted. The case involved alleged fraudulent billing by personal care assistant companies that reportedly bilked Minnesota's Medicaid program out of $11 million.