US EditionSt. Cloud Autism Center Owner Pleads Guilty in $6 Million Fraud Scheme
Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf led a scheme that inflated Medicaid claims, recruited children without autism, and paid parents kickbacks, defrauding over $6 million from a public program.
- On March 2, Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, 28, president and CEO of St. Cloud-based Star Autism Center, pleaded guilty to one federal count of wire fraud, court documents show.
- Yussuf targeted parents in the Somali community to recruit children, working with partners to qualify some without autism diagnoses, according to court documents.
- Monthly kickbacks tied to authorized service amounts funded enrollments, and the Justice Department alleges Star Autism Center submitted millions in inflated Medicaid claims without providers' knowledge.
- Court filings show alleged misuse of proceeds for a semi-truck purchase and transfers to Kenya; Yussuf remains unsentenced, and Star Autism Center's license was suspended in January.
- Star Autism Center received over $6 million in public funds, and the program provides medically necessary services to people under 21, according to court documents.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Another Massive $6 Million Somali Migrant Fraud Scheme Exposed In Minnesota As Major Fraudster Gets Convicted - The American Tribune.com
Another fraudster in Minnesota has been exposed for claiming to provide services for children who have autism, but instead pulled in millions of dollars from making fraudulent Medicaid billings. Abdinajib Yussuf pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of wire fraud. According to court documents, Yussuf opened the Star Center Autism Center in the city of St. Cloud back in 2020, claiming to provide one-on-one therapy to children who have autism. The…
Founder of Minneapolis autism center admits to paying kickbacks to Somali families in $6 million scam
The founder of Star Autism Center admitted that he began the $6 million scam after "investors" approached him and provided families from the Somali community to bilk the federal government out of taxpayer cash.Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf was only 22 years old when he started running the scheme after dropping out of St. Cloud Technical College in Aug. 2020.The more services the families signed up for, the more they would receive in kickback payments.…
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