Appeals court reinstates guilty verdicts against Abdifatah Yusuf in $7.2 million Minnesota Medicaid fraud case

The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday, Oct. 26, restored a jury’s guilty verdicts against Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf, the owner of a home-care agency at the center of a roughly $7.2 million Medicaid fraud case. The ruling reverses Hennepin County District Judge Sarah West, who had thrown out the convictions and acquitted Yusuf after the jury had already found him guilty.

The case now goes back to Hennepin County for the verdicts to be reinstated and for sentencing. No sentencing date had been announced as of Tuesday morning.

What the appeals court decided

In a nonprecedential opinion (case No. A25-2003) written by Judge Worke for a three-judge panel that also included Presiding Judge Bond and Judge Cochran, the court concluded there was “sufficient circumstantial evidence” of Yusuf’s guilt. The panel wrote that it would “reverse and remand for reinstatement of the jury’s verdicts.” The Star Tribune described the decision as unanimous.

The opinion covers six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle.

Background: Promise Health Services

According to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit charged Yusuf in June 2024 over billing through his agency, Promise Health Services LLC, which claimed to provide home- and community-based services. Prosecutors said the agency billed Medicaid for services that were not provided, were based on false documentation, were overbilled or lacked any documentation, and that it offered kickbacks to recipients.

The Attorney General’s Office said Yusuf moved more than $1 million from the Promise business account into his personal account and withdrew more than $387,000 in cash, and that he and his wife spent tens of thousands of dollars at luxury car dealers and clothing stores. Those figures come from the prosecutors’ announcement.

Why Judge Sarah West acquitted him

After the verdict, Yusuf’s lawyers argued the evidence did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew about the fraud or intended to help it. The Star Tribune reported that the defense argued the scheme was orchestrated by his brother, Mohamed, who hid it from Yusuf. Judge West agreed and entered a judgment of acquittal before any sentence was imposed.

Why the appeals court disagreed

The panel said Yusuf “effectively concedes” that his brother committed theft by swindle, so the question was whether Yusuf knew and intended to further it. The court pointed to four sets of circumstances:

• Not a legitimate operation: Promise represented it had a physical location but was being run out of a mailbox.
• Not oblivious: Yusuf repeatedly described himself as owner and manager, set up payroll with an accounting firm and wrote checks from a Promise account.
• Undisclosed role: Yusuf never disclosed his brother’s management role to the state human services department, yet personally paid him from the business account.
• Who benefited: The opinion says Yusuf personally received over $1 million from Promise’s accounts, while his brother received about $359,000.

Taken together, the court found, those facts support the inference that Yusuf knew fraudulent billing was happening and intentionally aided it.

What the attorney general said

Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted the case and handled the appeal, said in a statement that his team “presented more than ample evidence at trial of Yusuf’s guilt” and that Minnesotans “can be as relieved as I am that he will finally be found guilty and will be held accountable.”

Defense attorneys from Birrell Law Firm represented Yusuf on appeal. Any public response from the defense, including whether it will seek review by the Minnesota Supreme Court, had not been widely reported as of Tuesday morning.

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