Judge beneath hearth for tossing $7M Medicaid fraud conviction tied to Minnesota couple’s ‘lavish life-style’

A Minnesota decide is beneath scrutiny for overturning a $7.2 million fraud conviction of a pair who have been discovered responsible of misappropriating Medicaid funds to help their “lavish lifestyle” of fancy automobiles and designer duds.

Abdifatah Yusuf, 44, was charged in June 2024 and located responsible in August 2025 after he and his spouse have been accused of stealing tens of millions from Minnesota’s Medicaid program whereas operating a healthcare enterprise out of their dwelling, in keeping with a release from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Yusuf was discovered responsible of six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle by a jury, however Judge Sarah West overturned the conviction in mid-November, KARE reported.

West was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz’s predecessor, Mark Dayton, in July 2018, in keeping with an archived release by the governor.

The decide wrote that her option to overturn the case “relied heavily on circumstantial evidence” and asserted that the state didn’t rule out different potential “reasonable interferences,” KARE reported.

West did spotlight that she was nonetheless “troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated” on the couple’s defunct follow, regardless of tossing out the conviction.

Yusuf and his 41-year-old spouse Lul Ahmed operated their enterprise for “years out of a mailbox,” however the husband was utilizing Medicaid cash behind-the-scenes to fund their “lavish lifestyle,” the legal professional normal’s workplace stated.

The couple continuously went on buying sprees at “luxury clothing stores,” starting from Coach to Nike.

Yusuf funneled greater than $1 million from their enterprise to his private account and withdrew over $387,000 in money, in keeping with the discharge.

Many Minnesotans, together with members of the case’s jury, have been appalled by West’s determination to overturn the convictions.

“It was not a difficult decision whatsoever. The deliberation took probably four hours at most. Based off of the state’s evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt,” former juryman Ben Walfoort instructed the outlet.

Yusuf’s legal professional instructed the outlet that West’s transfer “affirms” that Yusuf “was wrongfully accused.”

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, helmed by Democrat Keith Ellison, filed an enchantment contesting West’s ruling.

“Stealing money meant for poor people’s healthcare and using it to buy luxury cars and designer clothes is as shameful and disgraceful as it gets. Minnesotans believe in helping our neighbors, but we have no patience for fraudsters like Abdifatah Yusuf who abuse that generosity to enrich themselves,” Ellison stated after Yusuf was convicted in August.

Minnesota is at present grappling with one other bigger fraud investigation within the wake of the Feeding Our Future scheme, which noticed a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} being embezzled from COVID-19 funds.

The Manhattan Institute printed a report in late November alleging that Al-Shabaab, a Somali terror group, was receiving tens of millions of {dollars} that have been associated to the Feeding Our Future scheme.

On Nov. 21, President Trump terminated deportation protections for Somalis in Minnesota and claimed that associated gangs have been “terrorizing the people of that great State” whereas “BILLIONS of Dollars” have been going lacking.

Walz is beneath hearth for the scandal, with even his state’s personal Department of Human Services claiming he’s chargeable for the “massive fraud.”