Two Minnesota residents were charged for allegedly using autism care centers to defraud Medicaid of over $21 million.
Shamso Ahmed Hassan and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf were arrested by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on May 21 for allegedly defrauding Medicaid of over $21 million, according to a Wednesday press release by the DHS.
“Hassan was a beneficial owner of Smart Therapy Center LLC and Star Autism Center LLC. She had enrolled as a provider of services for the Minnesota Early Intensive Development and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) Program, and was an employee and lead biller for Smart Therapy Center LLC, responsible for submitting claims to Medicaid,” according to the DHS press release sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation upon request.
“Through both companies, the defendants carried out a scheme to defraud a health care benefit program of approximately $21.1 million by submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicaid. This scheme took place over the course of more than four years, from May of 2020 to December of 2024,” the press release stated.
“This investigation is led by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) with HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] assistance. Both suspects will remain in federal custody pending judicial proceedings,” it stated.
The DHS also confirmed that both women are U.S. citizens, with Hassan having been naturalized.
The defendants allegedly paid parents kickbacks ranging from $300 to $1,500 per month to have their Medicaid-eligible children receive EIDBI services at their facilities, according to the indictment filed with the U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
“[Hassan and Yusuf] and their co-conspirators disguised the kickback by writing checks payable to family members and employees and directing them to cash the checks and give the cash to parents monthly, and by referring to the illegal kickback payments using the code word ‘computer,’” the indictment alleged.
The indictment also alleged that they transferred some of the funds “overseas, including to Kenya.”
Minnesota has been at the center of multiple healthcare fraud investigations. Former Feeding Our Future Executive Director Aimee Bock was sentenced to 41.5 years in prison on May 21 for stealing approximately $250 million in federal funds, the DCNF previously reported.
A Minnesotan suspected of a different multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme in the state survived jumping out of a fourth-story balcony window in an attempt to escape federal authorities, the DCNF reported May 21.
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