Minnesota judge under fire for throwing $7.2M taxpayer-fraud conviction connected to claimed ‘lavish lifestyle

A judge in Minnesota is facing heat after she overturned a guilty verdict for an individual convicted in a $7.2 million fraud scheme that involved taxpayer money

Abdifatah Yusuf and his wife Lul Ahmed were charged in June 2024 after they were accused of stealing $7.2 million from the state’s Medicaid program while running a home healthcare business that lacked an office building and operated for “years out of a mailbox,” according to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Prosecutors said Yusuf received Medicaid money for services that weren’t provided and overbilled for services that didn’t have documentation. Yusuf allegedly used the money to fund a “lavish lifestyle” that included shopping sprees at “luxury clothing stores including Coach, Canada Goose, Michael Kors, Third Degree Heat, Nike, and Nordstrom.”

Yusuf directed over $1 million from the business account to his personal account and also withdrew over $387,000 in cash, the attorney general’s office said.

While Yusuf was found guilty of six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle (over $35,000) in August by a jury, the decision was overturned by Judge Sarah West in November, according to KARE.

West wrote in her decision that the case “relied heavily on circumstantial evidence,” adding that the state didn’t rule out other potential “reasonable inferences.”

The judge added she was, however, “troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated at Promise Health.”

Minnesota State Rep. Kristin Robbins said she was shocked upon hearing the guilty verdict was overturned.

“I was stunned. 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.  Read more