Eight People Charged In $2.6 Million Medicaid Fraud Scheme

Eight people have been charged in what state prosecutors describe as a Medicaid fraud scheme totaling $2.6 million.

On Friday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that his office had charged eight people in Rice County District Court for their involvement a scheme to defraud the Minnesota Medical Assistance, or Medicaid, program.

As part of the scheme, the defendants allegedly stole the identities of hundreds of people, mostly from the Faribault area. They would then bill the Medicaid program for services the victims did not receive, including for transportation, interpreter and specialty-clinic services.

The victims’ identities were used to bill for Medicaid-funded services throughout the Twin Cities, often between 50 and 60 miles from the Faribault-based victims’ homes. This allowed the defendants to maximize driver reimbursement for services while staying under the program’s 60-mile limit for care, Ellison’s office says.

In addition to billing for services that weren’t provided, the defendants allegedly billed group rides as individual rides to maximize reimbursement and billing for services that weren’t eligible.

“Minnesotans who receive Medical Assistance have a right to expect they’ll receive all the care, dignity, and respect they’re entitled to,” Ellison said in a statement.

“Minnesotans trying to afford their lives have a right to expect that every one of their tax dollars will be spent properly and legally. People who commit Medicaid fraud violate both of those rights.”

Those charged are:

• Nasro Aden Takhal: one count of racketeering, six counts of identity theft and ten counts of aiding and abetting felony theft
• Fardosa Ali Ibrahim: racketeering, identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft
• Bashir Aden Bare: racketeering, identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft
• Warfa Osman Mohomud: racketeering, identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft
• Omar Abdi Ahmed: identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft
• Amal Mohamed Budul: identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft
• Khalif Abdi Madobe: identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft
• Bishara Salat Abdirahman: identity theft and aiding and abetting felony theft

SOURCE: Bring Me The News