Free Republic

Abdirashid Ismail Said was the centerpiece of Attorney General Keith X. Ellison’s attempt to pretend that he was also being tough on Somali fraud. Since Said had already been convicted of Medicaid fraud in 2022, he should never have been allowed to bill Medicaid for anything. And once he was charged, he should never have been released on bail. But he was and did and now he’s on the run, and we’re all supposed to pretend that Ellison tried really hard and just couldn’t figure things out. The Minnesota Attorney General announced in December 2023 that Said is responsible for...

MINNEAPOLIS — Abdirashid Said is the original Personal Care Assistant company fraudster who stole taxpayer money while claiming to operate out of a mailbox at an office on Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis. After he was convicted in 2021 and ordered to have nothing to do with companies that receive Medicaid money, other PCA companies took his place at the Central Avenue office. And Said started receiving checks from them. "Were those checks for employment for you, Mr. Said?" former state prosecutor Steve Forrest asked at a probation violation hearing. "No, they were for loans," Said said. Said claimed the...

A federal court rejected Minnesota’s attempt to restart Medicaid funding that the Trump administration had halted over concerns people are stealing the money, with the judge saying even the state has acknowledged it has a “serious fraud problem.” Judge Eric Tostrud, a Trump appointee, said Minnesota may still prevail later in the case, but for now the feds are on relatively solid legal footing in deferring more than $250 million in Medicaid money to prod the state to combat fraud. “Though Minnesota credibly complains that the federal government’s deferral is historically unprecedented in its size and timing, I conclude on...

It turns out the over 100 women from Turkey who flew over to America to have their babies then signed up for Medicaid So not only did their kids get birthright citizenship but then the American taxpayer had to pay for the procedure and follow up care End Birthright Citizenship

What do you get when you cross the Corleone crime family with the Sopranos pulling off a heist even bigger than the Lucchese crime family's multimillion-dollar Lufthansa caper in 1978? I dunno, but it's got nothin' on California. If you haven't already read Rick Moran's excellent "Gavin Newsom, 'The Celebrated Jumping Fraud King of Calaveras County'," open that in a new tab, take a gander, then come back here. Because when I first read Rick's piece, I thought, "That's some massive theft going on, but how big is it, really?"Longtime Sharp VodkaPundit Readers™ know I can't look at the big...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said it's "not possible" for the federal government to fund Medicare, Medicaid and child care costs, arguing that it should be up to the states to "take care" of those programs while the federal government focuses on military spending.

States are paying contractors such as Deloitte, Accenture, and Optum millions of dollars to help them comply with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a law that will strip safety-net health and food benefits from millions. State governments rely on such companies to design and operate computer systems that assess whether low-income people qualify for Medicaid or food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as food stamps. Those state systems have a history of errors that can cut off benefits to eligible people, a KFF Health News investigation showed. These benefits, provided to the poorest...

BREAKING: 4 individuals sentenced to federal prison after carrying out a $12.7 MILLION "Minnesota-Somali-style" Medicaid fraud scheme in North Carolina. The scammers operated a company called "Life Touch," which lured patients into unnecessary treatments and then billed Medicaid with fake claims. This fraud needs to be rooted out EVERYWHERE Image from X post: 4 individuals involved in Medicaid fraud scheme.

A man accused of running a fraudulent autism center in Minnesota also purchased a semi truck with the money received from state services, prosecutors say. Abdinajib Yussuf pleaded guilty on Monday, March 2nd to one count of wire fraud. According to CBS, Yussuf opened Star Autism Center in St. Cloud Minnesota in 2020, claiming to provide one on one therapy to children with autism. A federal indictment states that Yussuf recruited parents to enroll their children into his center, even if they were not actually diagnosed with autism. If the parents agreed, Yussuf would work with a professional to qualify...

Gov. Tim Walz denounced the Trump administration’s latest threat to withhold federal funds from Minnesota as another step in a “retribution” campaign as he unveiled a package of legislation Thursday intended to fight fraud in public programs, a persistent problem that provided an impetus for the federal government’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. The Democratic governor made the announcement a day after Vice President JD Vance said the administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive drive against the misuse of public funds. Walz’s proposals were in the...

In the wake of Vice President JD Vance and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, announcing that some Medicaid funding going toward Minnesota would be paused due to fraud concerns, Governor Tim Walz claimed that "the person who’s angriest about this fraud is me." "I don’t know why this is so hard to understand, and I will continue to say this. You can trust me on this. The person who’s angriest about this fraud is me. There is certainly no political upside to having fraud in your state, and it undermines the very...

Beyond all reckoning, the goofy DOGE geniuses did it! It’s done. For six years, they guarded this data like the nuclear codes. Yesterday, DOGE slapped it on the internet, ribbon-wrapped for Valentine’s Day. DOGE —whose death was obviously slightly exaggerated— just dropped a tactical nuke on both the vaccine debate and welfare fraud— and launched the biggest crowdsourcing project in human history. Yesterday, Axios ran the story headlined, “Elon Musk declares victory with Medicaid data release.”

In a startling development, a Minnesota building that was originally a linen factory is allegedly now housing around 400 Medicaid billing businesses. In a social media clip, Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), revealed that these businesses billed approximately $380 million (£278 million) to Medicaid. ‘Behind me is the Griggs Midway building. It looks like a factory because it was a factory. Roughly 400 Medicaid businesses were started in the building behind me over the last several years,’ Oz said while standing alongside acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill outside the building in St. Paul....

Recently released federal data shows the rate of improper payment in Minnesota's Medicaid program is far below the national average, the state's Department of Human Services says. According to the data released by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the error rate in Minnesota is slightly over 2.1%, compared to the national average of 6.1%. The human services department says the data was collected before it started implementing measures to cut down on fraud risk. "We're committed to making Minnesota a national model for preventing fraud and catching errors," said Shireen Gandhi, the temporary human services commissioner. "This...

Two years ago, Zakia Khan and her son Ahsan Ijaz hosted an NYPD promotion ceremony for the first Pakistani inspector in the New York City police department. After an Imam recited a prayer and everyone, including NYPD personnel, rose and put their hands on their hearts for the Pakistani national anthem, hailing Pakistan as the ‘citadel of Islam’ in the “shadow of Allah.” Last year, Khan pleaded guilty to a $68 million Medicaid fraud scheme involving her adult day care centers, which had been the sponsors of the NYPD event, and earlier this year more members of the Muslim fraud...

Dr Oz, Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, exposed a linen factory was converted into an office building for 400 likely fake Medicaid businesses in Minneapolis He then confirmed EACH ONE IS BILLING ROUGHLY A MILLION DOLLARS to taxpayers “Roughly each business had $1,000,000 of billing. It's an industrial area” “How is it possible 400 businesses billing almost $400 million were able to thrive here? — Why did no one in the state figure out this was a concern?”

Two Brooklyn marketers plead guilty in federal court to taking part in a wide-ranging Medicaid fraud scheme that prosecutors say relied on illegal kickbacks, sham billing, and money laundering connected to two social adult day care centers and a home health care company. Manal Wasef, 46, and Elaine Antao, 46, both of Brooklyn, were admitted to conspiring to commit health care fraud after investigators concluded they helped steer Medicaid recipients to specific providers in exchange for bribes and other illicit payments. Authorities allege the operation resulted in more than $68 million in Medicaid billings for services that were not provided....

Minnesota wasn’t an accident and Maine proves it. From Medicaid fraud to no-bid contracts, whistleblowers are exposing the same playbook being used across multiple states.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt detailed the “four commonsense pillars” of President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled framework for the “Great Healthcare Plan,” which the White House is calling on Congress to pass.Leavitt outlined the president’s vision to reporters during Thursday’s White House press briefing. She stated that the first pillar is “permanently lowering prescription drug prices” by codifying Trump’s most-favored-nations deals with pharmaceutical companies.“Congress can get this done by codifying President Trump’s historic most-favored-nation [MFN] initiatives into law to guarantee Americans the same low prices for prescription drugs that people in other countries around the world pay,” Leavitt said.....

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Wednesday charged a Minneapolis man with more than $3 million in Medicaid fraud tied to a state-licensed home health agency. Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd was charged with eight counts of felony theft by false representation after prosecutors said he used his company, Guardian Home Health Services, to bill Minnesota’s Medicaid program for services that were never provided or were ineligible for reimbursement from 2020 through 2024. According to the criminal complaint, Guardian submitted fraudulent claims for personal care aide services, companion care, homemaking, respite care, individualized home support and other community support services. State officials...