A health services
contractor in Maine founded by a Somali immigrant is now accused by a
whistleblower of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program, raising
concerns in Congress that fraud in government programs is more
widespread than previously known.
The recent charges from last month connected to a $1
billion fraud ring among Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
have focused renewed attention from lawmakers on rooting out fraud in
federally-funded programs across the country.
Just days after the Minnesota fraud ring surfaced in the
national conversation, a whistleblower who worked for a health services
contractor in Maine came forward in a public interview and alleged the
company, Gateway Community Services, defrauded the state’s Medicaid
program for years.
The company was founded by Abdullahi Ali,
a Somali-American who also ran for office, a position equivalent to
governor, in a Somali state. At the time, he was serving as Gateway’s
executive director.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., Chairman of the House Oversight
Committee, says that he plans to probe the cases in both Minnesota and
Maine to determine whether similar fraud using public dollars exists
elsewhere. He believes there is a high chance his committee will find
more.
“This does appear that it's a very organized scheme in multiple states with groups of Somalis,” Comer said in an interview with NewsNation,
which first aired the whistleblower's allegations. “I would go out on a
limb and say this is happening in other states with other social
programs with other groups," Comer said.
Democratic governors refusing to cooperate
Comer noted that the Trump administration is intent on
rooting out fraud in these federally funded programs, but a refusal by
states run by Democratic governors to turn over key data threatens to
hamper the effort. His committee’s probe, Comer warned, would rely on
congressional subpoena power to compel information if any state or
entity refuses to turn over requested information.
"Minnesota could be and hopefully is the worst offender,
but there are other blue states run by Democrat governors who refuse to
turn over any data, not only to Congress, but to the cabinet secretaries
like [Agriculture Secretary] Brooke Rollins, who are trying to get a
handle on programs like SNAP,” Comer told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Tuesday.
"If anyone that has received correspondence from us thus
far requesting information, if they don't turn over that information,
then they will get a subpoena. And we're serious about this. We're not
going to back down," he added.
State charged for services never performed
The whistleblower in the Maine case, Christopher Bernardini, came forward in an interview with NewsNation
earlier this week, recounting what he observed when he worked for
Gateway Community Services as its self-described “billing guru” from May
2018 until April 2025.
Bernardini said the company presided over a system in which
false records were filed about client visits. He alleges that the
company manipulated an electronic monitoring system designed to track
staff visits to low-income and disabled clients, but staff never
actually made those visits. Afterwards, Gateway charged Maine’s Medicaid
program despite never performing the stated services.
“I just couldn’t fathom it — I thought we were helping people; I thought this was all on the up-and-up,” Bernardini told NewsNation in an exclusive interview. “I have a passion for helping people and I thought that we were doing the right thing this whole time.”
Bernardini said he grew disillusioned with his work when he
“saw how they were swindling people” and when “I had clients calling me
to tell me their staff hadn’t shown up and I was told to bill those
hours anyway.
“It just got worse and worse until I started really putting up a stink,” he said.
Gateway founder Ali responded to the accusations of fraud in a post to X, according to NewsNation. The post appears to have been deleted, and his account appears to be locked.
“I make no apologies for building a successful business in
Maine, working hard to earn a living, earning my PhD, giving back to my
Maine community, and running for office in Jubaland,” he wrote,
according to The Hill.
“I am proud to contribute my hard-earned $ to support my people back
home. America is a nation of laws—you cannot change facts by fabricating
false stories. I am proud Somali-American.”
Ali started Gateway Community Services in 2015 in Portland, Maine. It is a for-profit company
that provides behavioral health services that include mental health
counseling and services for children with intellectual disabilities.
Gateway, along with its sister nonprofit organization, Gateway Community
Services Maine, employs more than 250 people across the state, the Portland Press Herald reported in a profile of Ali last year.
Allegations dating back to 2022
Gateway first came to the attention of the state’s Medicaid system’s integrity unit years ago, NewsNation
reported. On March 22, 2022, the company received a notice of violation
from the Medicaid system, known as MaineCare, alleging the government
had overpaid for Gateway’s services by more than $900,000. The estimate
was later revised down to just over $770,000. The state believed it had
overpaid Gateway because documentation did not have matching start and
stop times and there were missing signature dates.
While Ali led the company, he also unsuccessfully ran for political office
in his native Somalia, the presidency of one of the country’s southern
provinces, Jubaland. In an interview with Kenyan media, Ali bragged that he had raised funds
for the Jubaland-Somali army–a paramilitary force–providing them with
resources to help buy “weapons, bullets and food.” The admission raised concerns he had funneled taxpayer money into the African country, the Maine Wire reported earlier this year.
Bernardini told NewsNation the questionable
activity ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic when the federal
government made available close to $1 trillion as part of the Paycheck
Protection Program.
“Once the PPP loan stuff started going on, this one really
ticked me off because, all of a sudden, I started seeing these staff
come aboard. They’d be on board for two or three weeks,” Bernardini
said.
“No hours worked. I’d put in their training hours. That's
because, again, I was doing the time cards and I started seeing bonuses,
$2,000 bonuses, going to these staff that had only been with us for two
weeks. Never worked a shift with a client and yet the PPP loan comes,
they’re giving $2,000 away like they’re lollipops at a doctor’s office
and I’m like, ‘Where the hell’s my $2,000 bonus, I’ve been here six,
seven years.’”
All of this prompted Bernardini to submit a tip to the
Maine State auditor’s office in the Spring of 2024. He said he was asked
to provide information for the audit several times. However, Gateway
ended Bernardini’s contract in April 2025.
“I’ve been waiting patiently for this to blow up, and I
knew it would eventually,” Bernardini said in the interview. “I only
wish I would have spoken up sooner.”
More than $1 billion of misused taxpayer funds
Renewed scrutiny on the massive fraud ring among Somali
immigrants in Minneapolis came after the 77th defendant associated with a
taxpayer-supported food program was indicted late last month, opening
the door for the Maine case to break through.
The details of the vast fraud, which prosecutors estimate
totals around $1 billion dollars, have been reported for years,
including by Just the News on several occasions. At the center
of the fraud is a Minneapolis nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, which
established feeding sites across the city in collaboration with local
businesses.
The Justice Department first charged 47 people in a $250 million scheme involving the nonprofit in 2022, Just the News previously
reported. Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said the defendants "went
to great lengths to exploit a program designed to feed underserved
children in Minnesota amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudulently
diverting millions of dollars designated for the program for their own
personal gain.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who served during the
Biden administration, called it the largest pandemic-era fraud scheme
ever identified.
But, the more prosecutors dug in, the more fraud they said
they uncovered, both related to Feeding Our Future and in other places
among the city’s Somali community, the New York Times reported.
The investigations have led to almost 60 convictions, 77 indictments,
and identified more than $1 billion of misused taxpayer funds in the
state.
The 77th defendant in the food welfare program scheme was indicted last month, and his case gives a sense of how systemic and organized the fraud schemes have been, Just the News reported.
Federal prosecutors
said Ousman Camara was indicted on nine charges alleging fraud, federal
programs bribery, and money laundering. He was the owner of K’s Dollar
Grocery and Deli, a small storefront grocery store in north Minneapolis.
In August 2015, the Agriculture Department disqualified Camara and his
store from food stamps due to suspected fraud.
In September 2020, prosecutors alleged, Camara enrolled K’s
Grocery in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of
Feeding Our Future. In 2020 and 2021, Camara fraudulently claimed to be
serving meals to 1,000 children a day, seven days a week, at his site
when he wasn’t. In all, Camara claimed to have served more than 300,000
meals to children, for which he claimed to be entitled to more than $1
million in Federal Child Nutrition Program reimbursement, authorities
said.
He then allegedly used those funds on his lifestyle, paying
his credit card bills, and buying a building in north Minneapolis. He
also sent some of the money out of the country, prosecutors said.
