Two women from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, have been federally charged after allegedly defrauding the United States Medicaid system of more than $21 million through a four-year scheme that exploited a programme designed to provide autism therapy to vulnerable children — paying parents kickbacks to enrol their children in fake sessions while channelling proceeds into property purchases and overseas transfers to Kenya.
Shamso Ahmed Hassan, 55, and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf, 25, were arrested and charged by federal prosecutors as part of a sweeping Department of Justice operation announced in Minneapolis on 21 May, which brought charges against 15 individuals for Medicaid fraud totalling more than $90 million in Minnesota. Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis of the Department of Homeland Security said: “These Minnesota residents have been accused of stealing more than $21 million from the American taxpayer. Their Medicaid fraud scheme started during the COVID pandemic and lasted for four years. HSI continues to zero in on the rampant fraud in Minnesota.”
According to KSTP and the Minnesota Star Tribune, the two women ran Smart Therapy Center LLC and Star Autism Center LLC, which were enrolled as providers in Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention programme — a Medicaid-funded scheme providing intensive therapy for children under 21 diagnosed with autism. Between May 2020 and December 2024, the pair submitted $46.6 million in claims to Medicaid, of which approximately $21.1 million was paid out. The centres billed for services that were never provided, were not medically necessary, or were delivered by unqualified staff.
Hassan and Yusuf paid illegal kickbacks of between $300 and $1,500 per month per child to parents of Medicaid-eligible children in return for enrolling their children in the programmes, regardless of medical need or diagnosis. To disguise the payments, they wrote cheques payable to family members and employees, who were asked to cash them and hand the money to parents monthly. The kickbacks were internally referred to as “computer payments.” Proceeds from the fraud were then used to purchase real estate in the United States and to send hundreds of thousands of dollars overseas, including transfers to Kenya, according to federal court records.
Hassan had concealed her ownership interest in the two autism centres from the Minnesota Department of Human Services — a requirement for all enrolled providers. Both centres have since had their licences revoked. Federal authorities had already raided the premises in 2024 before the indictments were unsealed.
Hassan appeared in federal court, pleaded not guilty and was released. Yusuf also pleaded not guilty and was released on conditions. Both face one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, multiple counts of health care fraud and two counts of money laundering. The news conference announcing the charges was attended by Trump administration officials including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr Mehmet Oz, who framed the Minnesota prosecutions as part of a national drive to root out systemic Medicaid fraud.
The case is the latest in a series of massive fraud schemes that have exploited Minnesota’s social welfare programmes. It follows the Feeding Our Future scandal — in which ringleader Aimee Bock was sentenced on the same day the autism fraud charges were announced — and a $14 million EIDBI fraud case brought against a related defendant, Asha Farhan Hassan, in September 2025. Minnesota’s EIDBI programme grew from approximately $600,000 in annual claims in 2018 to hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years, a surge that federal investigators say was driven in significant part by organised fraud.
