The Minnesota Court of Appeals reinstated a jury’s guilty verdict Monday against a man who ran a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud scheme, state officials said.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the guilty verdict against Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf was restored following a post-trial acquittal handed down by the Hennepin County District Court.
Yusuf and his family members were accused of defrauding $7.2 million in Medicaid funds by creating a phony company, Promise Health Services, which claimed to offer home- and community-based care. Prosecutors said the business lacked any office space to provide its purported services and was only a mailbox.
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After his trial, Yusuf argued that prosecutors did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was aware of the scheme and played a role in its success. The district court sided with the defendant, in spite of objections by the state.
But the appeals court’s decision reversed that ruling, saying Yusuf’s own personal enrichment from the plot betrayed his supposed obliviousness to the crime.
“My Medicaid fraud-fighting team and I feel strongly that we presented more than ample evidence at trial of Yusuf’s guilt, so we felt it imperative to appeal the district court’s entry of a judgment of acquittal,” Mr. Ellison said in a statement. “Yusuf committed significant fraud against both taxpayers and the people who need the services he was supposed to provide that help them live at home and in community.”
At the trial, prosecutors said Yusuf pocketed more than $1 million in illicitly acquired Medicaid funds into his personal bank account.
He shelled out $42,000 at luxury car dealerships, $80,000 on designer clothing and withdrew a total of $387,000 in cash during the life of the scheme, prosecutors argued.
The prosecution said Yusuf and family members stole more than $7 million from Minnesota’s Medical Assistance program by falsifying paperwork, overbilling and paying kickbacks to people who they encouraged to sign up.
Yusuf was first charged in June 2024. A Hennepin County jury found him guilty in August 2025 of several counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle (more than $35,000), as well as multiple aggravating factors that could beef up his prison sentence.
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