Acting United States Attorney W. Anders Folk announced charges against 13 defendants in a multi-million dollar healthcare fraud conspiracy. According to the allegations in two separate indictments, 13 defendants are charged with participating in a scheme to defraud the Medicaid program. The scheme involved mental health practitioners and interpreters who were associated with Live Better, LLC, a patient services company with offices in Roseville and Minneapolis, and Multicultural Counseling Clinic (“MMCC”), a counseling clinic with offices in St. Paul, Brooklyn Park, and Burnsville. As part of the scheme, the health practitioners and interpreters would submit fraudulent claims through their respective employers for services purportedly provided to Medicaid recipients. In reality, neither the mental health services nor the ancillary interpretation services were rendered. Some defendants participated in this scheme for nearly three years. As a result of the false and fraudulent claims, the Medicaid program paid Live Better and MMCC a total of more than $5.4 million.
The two separate indictments charge defendants Okach Okwayoo Kwot, 51, Elijah S. Kollie, 62, Abdirahman Yonis, 33, Alphonso Vasco Johnson, 58, Ilyas Abdi Farah, 38, Anab Artan Awad, 50, Ayan Ali Mohamud, 41, Elifaa Henry Kinyaiya, 45, Varbar B. Kanneh, 30, Eskender M. Yousuf, 39, Hodan Abdi Hashi, 52, Omar Ali Osman, 28, and Ubah Hassan Hagi, 43, with conspiracy and wire fraud.
