Minnesota attorney general charges Minneapolis man with more than $3M in Medicaid fraud
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced criminal charges Wednesday against a Minneapolis man accused of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program of more than $3 million over a four-year period.
Ellison’s office charged Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd, 57, with eight felony counts of theft by false representation in Hennepin County District Court. Prosecutors allege that Omarxeyd used his agency, Guardian Home Health Services, to submit fraudulent Medicaid claims for home care services that were not provided, improperly billed, or not eligible for reimbursement.
According to the criminal complaint, the alleged fraud occurred between January 2020 and January 2024 and involved personal care assistant services, companion care, homemaking, respite care, individualized home supports, and comprehensive community support services. Several of those services have been designated by the Minnesota Department of Human Services as high-risk for fraud.
The eight felony counts each involve alleged thefts of more than $35,000, with individual counts tied to different time periods. Court records show the state alleges Omarxeyd fraudulently obtained more than $3.2 million from Minnesota Medicaid and the health insurer Medica combined.
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Investigators say former employees admitted they did not provide the billed services and worked with Omarxeyd to submit false claims. The complaint also alleges Guardian paid Medicaid recipients or their responsible parties while billing for services in their names. Financial records reviewed by investigators show Omarxeyd, his wife, and companies he owned received more than $2 million from Guardian’s accounts during the period of alleged fraud.
“Defrauding programs that provide healthcare to low-income Minnesotans is a truly despicable act,” Ellison said in a statement, calling the charges part of his office’s broader effort to combat Medicaid fraud statewide.
The case was investigated by Ellison’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit with assistance from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and several local police departments. It will be prosecuted in Hennepin County District Court.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have said they are investigating “staggering, industrial-scale” Medicaid fraud in Minnesota that’s likely to reach into the billions of dollars. But Joe Thompson, the career U.S. Justice Department attorney best known for prosecuting social services fraud in Minnesota, resigned Tuesday along with other experienced attorneys at the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office.
That move comes after top Justice Department officials pushed the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate the widow of Renee Macklin Good, the person shot and killed Jan. 7 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross.
