Acting United States Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson called a press conference for 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning. I attended the press conference along with several other reporters to hear his statement and ask a few questions.
Thompson called the press conference to announce indictments and criminal complaints in eight new fraud cases against “Minnesota men” with such resonant names as Mokhtar Hassan Aden, Mustafa Dayib Ali, and Khalid Ahmed Dayib. Aden founded the company Brilliant Minds Services LLC and operated it with Ali and Dayib out of the Griggs-Midway Building on University Avenue St. Paul. The business model was built on defrauding Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program.
“Most of these cases, unlike a lot of Medicare fraud and Medicaid fraud cases nationally, aren’t just over-billing,” Thompson explained. “These are often just purely fictitious companies solely created to defraud the system, and that that’s unique in the extent to which we have that here in Minnesota.”
The remaining five Minnesota men against whom charges were announced yesterday sport equally resonant names: Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed, Christopher Adesoji Falade, Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade, Asad Ahmed Adow, and Anwar Ahmed Adow.
In the press release prepared for the press conference, we learn that the HSS program seems almost to have been designed to facilitate fraud: “By design, the Program had low barriers to entry for new providers and for beneficiaries. The program also had minimal requirements for reimbursement. The HSS Program’s low barriers to entry and minimal records requirements for reimbursement combined to make the program susceptible to fraud.” You might almost say the Minnesota men were entrapped!
Mr. Thompson emphasized that the charges against the eight defendants announced yesterday were just the first wave in this particular fraud case. More are on the way.
And this first wave could or should be the first wave of another wave of fraud cases coming in every “waivered” Minnesota Medicaid programs: “Many of the owners of [the involved HSS] companies had one or more other companies through which they billed other Medicaid programs such as the EIDBI autism program, the Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services program, the Integrated Community Support program, the Community Access for Disability Inclusion program, PCA services, and other Medicaid-waivered services.”
The particular defendants charged in this particular case were almost incidental to the point Thompson all but shouted from the rooftops: “Minnesota is drowning in fraud” — fraud in Medicaid programs administered by the state of Minnesota — and, I would add, under the noses of Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison.
To put it another way, Thompson all but shouted: Wake up! The volume of fraud is beyond the capacity of his office to remedy by prosecution. They can’t do it alone.
I have covered three trials over the past ten years featuring a cast of almost entirely Somali defendants. The first was the 2016 terrorism case tried against three Minnesota men for providing material assistance to ISIS. Six of the defendants in that case pleaded guilty before trial.
The second and third are the Feeding Our Future Fraud cases I have covered over the past two years. Yesterday, by the way, the United States Attorney’s Office for Minnesota announced the conviction of the 56th defendant (of 75) in the massive Feeding Our Future case. Fifty-six down, 19 to go.
And that’s not all. The third Feeding Our Future fraud trial also created the setting for the juror bribery case that arose out of it. All five defendants in the juror bribery case have pleaded guilty: Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Said Shafii Farah, Abdulkarim Shafii Farah, and Ladan Mohamed Ali. That’s four “Minnesota men” and one former “Minnesota woman.”
Attorney Steven Schlier represented Said Farah in the fraud trial, but Farah knew he was guilty and lacked faith that Schlier would pull his chestnuts out of the fire. “We’re grateful that our client has been exonerated,” said Schlier, who argued that his client was simply supplying groceries to others who were involved with the meal distribution program and was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
The new HSS crop of fraud cases also features a cast of mostly Somali defendants. What is going on here? And why am I the only one asking?
Having attended the three trials, I can observe that many of the defendants were observant Muslims. In the terrorism case, as a matter of fact, the defendants were burning to wage jihad and chop heads for Allah. They enjoyed the ISIS beheading videos like some other men enjoy pornography. The terrorism charges related directly to their religious beliefs.
In the fraud cases, the defendants don’t seem to think it is wrong to steal from the Man. They seem to think it’s A-OK. It’s what happens when a Third-World tribal culture is crossed with an urban Democrat establishment.
I have an idea to lend Mr. Thompson a hand. Those in positions of authority to speak to the “Minnesota men” of the Somali community need to get a message out. It’s not okay to steal from the Man. Whether you think it’s right or wrong, doing so may result in separation from your family and otherwise inconvenience you for an extended period of time.
That is a message that should be delivered face to face to “Minnesota men” and their religious leaders by the governor, the attorney general, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the legislators representing the communities where the “Minnesota men” reside. I would add Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar to the list, but she is illustrative of the cultural observation I am positing here.
I have posted the Alpha News video of the press conference below in its entirety. It only runs 23 minutes. If you have any interest, it is well worth your time. The related Alpha News story by Luke Sprinkel is posted here.
