A Blaine man has been found guilty of bilking the Medicaid program out of over $7.2 million.
Abdifatah Yusuf claimed to provide services to Medicaid recipients, but he didn't have a physical business and used the money to fund a "lavish" lifestyle that included luxury cars and clothing, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office said.
He was one of five people accused in June of defrauding Minnesota's Medicaid program out of more than $10 million.
The attorney general's office said the fraudsters provided false documentation, overbilled for services, billed for services they didn't provide and diverted funds for personal use. Minnesota distributes the federal money for home care and transportation services to people with low incomes.
According to a press release from Ellison's office, a jury found Yusuf guilty of six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle. In addition, the jury also found "multiple aggravating factors existed to support an upward departure from the Minnesota sentencing guidelines."
He will be sentenced at a later date.
A press release from Ellison's office provided the following details:
Investigators said that Yusuf's agency, Promise Health Services LLC, claimed to provide home and community based services but didn't have a physical office. Instead, Yusuf and his family members received Medicaid funds fraudulently for services they didn't provide. These services were billed based on false documentation, some services were overbilled, while others were billed but lacked documentation.
In addition, the office's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit office claimed Yusuf gave "kickbacks" to recipients to induce them to receive "services" from the agency.
Yusuf and his wife spent more than $22,000 at furniture stores, more than $42,000 at luxury automotive dealers and more than $80,000 at luxury clothing stores, investigators say.
"Stealing money meant for poor people's health care and using it to buy luxury cars and designer clothes is as shameful and disgraceful as it gets," Ellison said. "Minnesotans believe in helping our neighbors, but we have no patience for fraudsters like Abdifatah Yusuf who abuse that generosity to enrich themselves."
Ellison said he was committed to recovering as much of the stolen money as possible.