The Somali fraud industrial complex now includes millions billed in interpreter services for Somali migrants who don’t speak English and need a taxpayer funded interpreter to help them at their taxpayer funded doctor’s appointments.
This scam is the latest exploitation in state-run programs under the Democratic leadership in Minnesota – Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar – both of whom are implicated in the larger $9 billion welfare fraud and are under investigation.
Federal investigations reveal that Somali interpreters have set up elaborate billing schemes, inflating costs for services that were never provided or were unnecessarily extended.
Under Minnesota’s Medicaid rules, counties and healthcare providers are required to provide interpreters to make sure the patient has clear communication.
However, Somali migrant fraudsters have weaponized this requirement.
Prosecutors say interpreters act as recruiters, who make deals with clinics, promising them a steady client base, in exchange for kickbacks.
Once the deal is made, the clinics submit claims for fake interpreter sessions, as well as for other fake services like non-emergency medical transportation (also a Somali run fraud scheme)
The taxpayers are getting billed for a fake trip to the doctor, the fake services the doctor supposedly performs and the fake interpreter – while all involved get paid.
Details from current investigations:
Interpreters like Nasro Aden Takhal, identified as a ringleader in one ring, kept records for the fake transportation and interpretation, billing the state for hours of work that never happened.
Somali migrant fraudsters stole identities of hundreds of residents to fabricate patient visits, then billed for interpreter support alongside fake transportation—driving clients up to 60 miles between towns to maximize reimbursements.
Billing practices inflated costs by claiming individual services rather than group rates, leading to overpayments for work that was never done.
Kickbacks to participating clinics reached up to $450 per client.
Somali-run home health agencies and autism centers used the same types of tactics, establishing fake clinics that billed millions for interpreter services tied to fake therapies, where unqualified relatives posed as staff.
Meanwhile, parents received monthly payoffs of $300 to $1,500 to pretend their child had autism.
This interpreter fraud is part of a sprawling “Somali fraud industrial complex” that has stolen hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from Minnesota’s Medicaid program, known as Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP).
Prosecutors say at least 150 Somali-registered providers have been banned from MHCP for fraud, theft, or noncompliance.
Minnesota’s Somali population is the largest in the U.S. at around 100,000 – and 81% of those migrants are on some type of welfare.
Federal authorities say that fraud across 14 state-run programs could be more than $9 billion—half of the $18 billion federal funds allocated.
In addition, an investigation revealed that 50% of the Somali migrants in Minnesota committed immigration fraud.
President Trump has sent thousands of federal agents to Minnesota because of that massive fraud.
The scandals have forced Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to drop out of the reelection race as state DHS whistleblowers say he ignored the fraud then retaliated against anyone who reported it.
