Minnesota welfare fraud funnels millions of dollars to Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab

An investigative article published by City Journal revealed that millions of dollars fraudulently obtained from welfare funds from Minnesota—primarily from Medicaid and related programs—were sent to Somalia through informal money transfer networks and ultimately ended up in the hands of Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda.

Anonymous sources consulted by City Journal described this as an ongoing problem, with one source stating, "This is a third-rail conversation, but the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer."

City Journal claims that its research demonstrates what happens when a tribal mentality meets a sympathetic bureaucracy, when imported clan loyalties clash with a political class too timid to offend, and when accusations of racism are used cynically to cover up criminal behavior. According to the report, the predictable result is corruption, and taxpayers are the ones who end up paying the price.

A network aimed at defrauding federal and state funds

Since Democrat Tim Walz took over as Minnesota governor in 2019, City Journal claims billions of taxpayer dollars have been stolen.

Acting U.S. Attorney, Joseph Thompson this year called the situation a "crisis," warning that there are interconnected schemes that make up a "web" aimed at defrauding federal and state funds. According to the media outlet, examples include fake invoices for non-existent services, with resources laundered through luxury purchases or remittances.

On Sept. 18, Thompson announced criminal indictments for Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services Program (HSS) fraud against Moktar Hassan Aden, Mustafa Dayib Ali, Khalid Ahmed Dayib, Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed, Christopher Adesoji Falade, Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade, Asad Ahmed Adow and Anwar Ahmed Adow, six of whom, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, are members of Minnesota's Somali community. Thompson made it clear that this is only the first round of HSS fraud indictments his office will prosecute.

"Most of these cases, unlike a lot of Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases nationally, aren’t just overbilling," Thompson said at a press conference announcing the allegations. "These are often just purely fictitious companies solely created to defraud the system, and that’s unique in the extent to which we have that here in Minnesota."

City Journal revealed that on the same day the fraud charges against HSS were announced, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported that a man named Abdullahe Nur Jesow had become the 56th defendant to plead guilty in a $250 million fraud scheme from Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit created in 2016 to provide meals to children.

Feeding Our Future: A fraudulent program

In 2019, Feeding Our Future received $3.4 million in federal funds. However, according to City Journal, in the months following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit rapidly increased the number of sponsored centers. In 2021, Feeding Our Future received nearly $200 million in funding.

City Journal revealed that by using fake meal discounts, manipulated attendance records and forged invoices, the perpetrators of the fraud scheme claimed to be serving thousands of meals a day, seven days a week, to underprivileged children.

The fraudsters leveraged their growing political influence to cultivate close ties with Minnesota elected officials. Several people involved in the Feeding Our Future scheme donated to or appeared publicly with Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born U.S. representative, according to the report.

Likewise, Omar's deputy district director, Ali Isse, advocated on behalf of Feeding Our Future. Omar Fateh, a former state senator who recently ran for mayor of Minneapolis, lobbied Gov. Tim Walz to support the program. In addition, according to City Journal, one of the defendants, Abdi Nur Salah, served as a top aide to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Fraud in autism therapy services for children

A few days later, on Sept. 24, Thompson announced his office's first indictment in another fraud case. This time, the fraud involved federally funded autism services for children.

Asha Farhan Hassan, a member of Minnesota's Somali community and also implicated in the Feeding Our Future scheme, has been charged with participating in a $14 million scam against the state's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program, in which she and her accomplices recruited children from Somali families for alleged autism therapy services, providing false diagnoses even when the minors did not have the condition, prosecutors said.

Clan-based money traders

According to reports cited by City Journal, Somali fraud rings have sent huge sums of remittances, or money transfers, from Minnesota to Somalia. According to the media outlet, an estimated 40% of Somali households receive remittances from abroad. In 2023 alone, the Somali diaspora sent $1.7 billion, more than the Somali government's budget for that year.

The City Journal investigation revealed, for the first time, that part of this money has been earmarked for an even more troubling purpose: Al Qaeda—linked Islamic terrorist group Al Shabaab. According to multiple law enforcement sources, Minnesota's Somali community has sent millions of dollars through a network of “hawalas,” informal clan-based money traders, which have ended up in the hands of Al-Shabaab.