In Brief
- Judge overturns $7M Medicaid fraud conviction against Abdifatah Yusuf.
- State alleged Promise Health Services billed for nonexistent services.
- Court found evidence insufficient to link Yusuf to the fraud scheme.
- Minnesota Attorney General‘s Office is appealing the ruling.
Abdifatah Yusuf was found guilty in August in a $7 million Medicaid fraud case. However, the jury’s verdict was overturned Nov. 20 by a Hennepin County judge.
Yusuf was charged in June 2024 after investigators concluded that he defrauded Minnesota’s Medical Assistance program through his agency, Promise Health Services LLC. Although Promise claimed to provide home- and community-based waivered services, the company had no actual office and operated for years from a mailbox at a Central Avenue address. According to the charges, Yusuf and several family members illegally obtained Medicaid funds by billing for services that were never provided, submitting bills supported by falsified or nonexistent documentation, significantly overbilling for services, and offering kickbacks to clients to induce them to accept “services” from the agency.
In June 2024, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that three people had been charged with defrauding the Medicaid program out of $9 million. Yusuf was one of the individuals. Investigators determined that Promise stole more than $7 million during Yusuf’s operation of the business. Evidence supplied by the Attorney General’s Office showed that Yusuf funneled over $1 million from Promise’s accounts into his personal bank account and withdrew more than $387,000 in cash. Despite lacking a physical office, Yusuf and his wife, Lul Ahmed, spent more than $22,000 at furniture stores. They also spent more than $42,000 at luxury auto dealerships and over $80,000 at high-end clothing retailers…