Maine suspends Medicaid payments to Somali charity after audits uncover more than $1M in fraud

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has suspended Medicaid payments to a Somali-run charity after possible fraud was discovered during several audits of the charity’s finances. 

The DHHS found that the Gateway Community Services overbilled by more than $1 million from March 2021 through December 2022 for what was supposed to be “interpreting services” to Somali migrants, according to Breitbart.

Just the News reported on other allegations of fraud regarding Gateway Community Services that have recently come to light following the charges of at least a $1 billion fraud ring involving Somali immigrants in Minneapolis.

The current suspension of Medicaid funding comes after red flags were raised by Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who warned the U.S. Treasury of welfare fraud being committed by Gateway.

Gateway, which was founded in 2015 by Somali migrant Abdullahi Ali, who has previously drawn scrutiny for other possible financial fraud, also is connected to a number of prominent Democrats in Maine, including B.J. McCollister, who served in Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for the White House and was chief of staff to Maine Democrat Senate President Troy Jackson.

“This is taxpayer money, and we should be looking into this, and I’m relieved that the federal government is finally stepping in, I think, largely due to the inaction of the leaders in Maine,” said Assistant Maine Senate Minority Leader Republican Matt Harrington, who has been raising concerns about Gateway since last May.