Two autism clinic/Feeding Our Future investigations revealed in DHS letter to GOP
The Minnesota Star Tribune writes about the growing number of investigations undertaken by the state Department of Human Services (DHS) of taxpayer-funded private autism clinics.
The Star Tribune‘s headline:
Minnesota Medicaid fraud investigators examining more autism service providers
The state is looking into 29 providers of early intervention services, up from 15 investigations in July. State officials say they are considering additional oversight.
The 29 active investigations (as of August 26) represent one-tenth of the 294 providers of such services in the state.
Taxpayer spending has grown exponentially since the program first became available in 2018. The MN Reformer reported back in June 2024 about a related FBI investigation and noted that:
The amount paid to providers during that time has increased 3,000%, from about $6 million to nearly $192 million [annually]
The existence of the new state DHS investigations was revealed in a letter sent from the DHS inspector general in reply to the state House of Representatives Republican minority leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring). Demuth had sent her letter in July and DHS replied in late August.
In its response to Rep. Demuth, DHS lists the closed cases for the past five years. Here are the DHS cases closed in the past two years.
Senzilla Health Services, Inc. of St. Paul is listed in the Minnesota Secretary of State’s (MNSOS) database as being incorporated in January 2022 and lists a Samsam Mohamed as the company’s CEO. From 2018 to 2022, the company operated as an LLC.
Coincidentally, its address will be familiar to the readers of our unrelated Feeding Our Future coverage, 1821 University Avenue:
DHS reports recovering more than $86,000 from Northstar Therapy Services in Edina. Records maintained by MNSOS indicate that the company was incorporated in December 2021 and lists an Abdulkadir Omar as Northstar’s manager.
MSP Special Learning Center of Minneapolis is shown as being incorporated in November 2020. MNSOS records currently list an Abdirahman Dhunkal as its CEO. “MFCU Referral” refers to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit within the office of the Minnesota Attorney General.
Records maintained by the state Department of Management and Budget (MMB) show that these three entities have received significant payments from DHS over the past few fiscal years (FY). (*We have recently begun FY 2025.)
Please note that no person or organization mentioned above has been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing.
Now here is where the Feeding Our Future connections begin. “Epic Therapy” appears to refer to an entity we have written about many times, located in a University Ave. storefront in St. Paul.
This address was Subject Premises No. 3 in one of the original search warrants in the Feeding Our Future case. The address is associated with three men later indicted in the case: Abdul Ali, Yusuf Ali, and Bekam Merdassa. They are defendant Nos. 29, 30, and 45, respectively. All three have pled guilty in the case along with a fourth man involved in their efforts, Mulata Ali.
Mulata, (Defenant No. 53, Guilty Plea No. 7) is one of the rare figures in the case who is not an American citizen.
Sharmarke Issa (Defendant No. 34) has also pled guilty in the Feeding Our Future case, just yesterday, in fact. Issa was a two-time appointee of DFL Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as head of the city’s public housing authority.
Earlier this month, MN Reformer reported on Feeding Our Future/autism clinic connections. The Reformer mentions Epic Therapy along with two clinics not implicated in the free-food scandal: Smart Therapy Center of Minneapolis and Twin Cities Autism Center of Columbia Heights,
Earlier this week, the MN Reformer reported on DHS’ failure to investigate complaints regarding Smart Therapy Center.