A Minnesota judge is under intense scrutiny after overturning the guilty verdict of a couple accused of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud scheme that prosecutors say siphoned taxpayer money into luxury spending sprees.
According to Fox News, Abdifatah Yusuf and his wife, Lul Ahmed, were charged in June 2024 for allegedly stealing $7.2 million from Minnesota’s Medicaid program through a home-healthcare business that, according to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, didn’t even have a functioning office and operated “for years out of a mailbox.”
Prosecutors said Yusuf billed the state for services that were never provided and inflated invoices for services lacking documentation.
They accused him of using taxpayer money to bankroll a “lavish lifestyle,” listing purchases from high-end retailers including Coach, Canada Goose, Michael Kors, Third Degree Heat, Nike, and Nordstrom.
The attorney general’s office said Yusuf funneled over $1 million from the business account into his personal accounts and withdrew more than $387,000 in cash.
A jury found Yusuf guilty on six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindling over $35,000 in August. But in November, Judge Sarah West overturned the verdict, ruling that the prosecution’s case “relied heavily on circumstantial evidence” and failed to eliminate other “reasonable inferences.”
West acknowledged in her written decision that she was “troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated at Promise Health,” the couple’s business, but said the legal standard for conviction had not been met.
The ruling stunned Minnesota State Rep. Kristin Robbins.
“I was shocked. We want to strengthen state law so that we can get prosecutions out of these cases. Because clearly a jury thought he was guilty,” Robbins said.
Jurors were equally baffled. Foreperson Ben Walfoort said the panel reached its decision easily.
“It was not a difficult decision whatsoever. The deliberation took probably four hours at most. Based off of the state’s evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt,” Walfoort said. “I am shocked. I’m shocked based off of all of the evidence that was presented to us and the obvious guilt that we saw.”
Another juror told the outlet that “we all came to an agreement pretty easily.”
Yusuf’s attorney, Ian Birrell, praised the judge’s ruling and insisted his client had been unfairly targeted.
“Judge West’s ruling affirms what we have maintained from the beginning: our client Mr. Yusuf was wrongfully accused and did not commit fraud or racketeering,” Birrell said. “We appreciate the Court’s careful attention to the evidence and the law.”
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, led by Democrat Keith Ellison, has appealed the decision.
Minnesota has struggled with multiple large-scale fraud cases, including the Feeding Our Future scandal involving hundreds of millions in stolen COVID-19 funds. The Yusuf case is among several tied to Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services and related programs.
President Donald Trump referenced Minnesota’s fraud woes on Nov. 21 when he ended deportation protections for Somalis in the state, claiming “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing.”
His move followed a report from the Manhattan Institute alleging that millions stolen through the Feeding Our Future scheme were funneled to Al-Shabaab, a Somali terror group.
