The young CEO of a supposed autism center serving Minnesota’s Somali community pleaded guilty Monday after pulling in more than $6 million through a fraud scheme — proving once again that “community service” can mean very different things depending on who’s running the show.
Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, 27, was charged by the Department of Justice in December 2025 for filing fraudulent Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) claims with the state of Minnesota. According to federal prosecutors, Yussuf and his crew pocketed over $6 million by gaming the system.
Yussuf ran Star Autism Center LLC, a business that claimed to provide one-on-one therapy to autistic children. He launched the company in 2020 at age 22 and ran it for about four years. At his plea hearing, Yussuf admitted something refreshingly honest: he didn’t actually know anyone with autism. Confidence is great — expertise helps too.
Federal records show Star Autism hired unqualified teenagers as “behavioral technicians” and targeted Somali parents to enroll their children in autism services — whether the kids had autism or not. Because why let medical facts get in the way of easy money?
The scam didn’t stop there. The center paid monthly cash kickbacks to parents based on how much Medicaid money could be squeezed out of the system. Prosecutors say claims were inflated, submitted without providers’ knowledge, or billed for services that never happened. Yussuf even shared profits with others tied to the business, spending over $100,000 on a Freightliner semi-truck and wiring more than $200,000 to Kenya.
Now comes the part Washington elites hate: consequences.
The Trump administration has made health care fraud a priority, especially in Minnesota. Vice President JD Vance and Mehmet Oz announced new measures on Feb. 25 to crack down on Medicare and Medicaid abuse, including deferring $259.5 million in quarterly Medicaid funding to Minnesota and placing a nationwide moratorium on Medicare enrollment for certain suppliers. Apparently, writing blank checks to scammers isn’t “compassion.”
President Donald Trump also created a new DOJ Division for National Fraud Enforcement earlier this year, following viral investigative videos by independent journalist Nick Shirley that exposed alleged fraud networks in Minnesota’s Somali community. Most defendants charged in these cases have been of Somali descent — a fact federal prosecutors didn’t invent, just documented.
Yussuf now faces about five years in prison. And while that won’t undo the damage done to taxpayers or families misused in the scheme, it sends a clear message: under this administration, stealing from Medicaid isn’t “activism,” it’s a crime.
In other words, accountability is back in style — and that’s great news for honest Americans who actually follow the rules.
