A whistleblower is sounding the alarm on what may be yet another massive fraud scheme involving a Somali-owned company — this time in Maine — and the allegations look disturbingly similar to the $1 billion fraud operation uncovered in Minnesota. But don’t worry, Democrats insist everything’s fine and that asking questions is “racist.” Convenient, as always.
Christopher Bernardini, a former “billing guru” at Gateway Community Services, told NewsNation on Monday that the company falsified documents to squeeze money out of Maine’s Medicaid program, billing for services to low-income and disabled clients that were never actually provided. Because apparently nothing says “community service” like billing the government for work nobody bothered to show up for.
The company’s owner, Abdullahi Ali, reportedly ran for political office in Jubaland — a region in Somalia — and even bragged about funding a militia there, according to The Maine Wire. Just the kind of résumé every American Medicaid contractor dreams of.
Bernardini said he joined the company believing he was helping people. But things quickly went downhill.
“When I had clients calling me to tell me their staff hadn’t shown up and I was told to bill those hours anyway,” he said, “It just got worse and worse until I started really putting up a stink.”
He also told NewsNation that the company manipulated an electronic monitoring system designed to track field staff, making it appear that clients were being visited when staff never actually showed up. In other words: “ghost visits” — but with taxpayer money on the line.
Gateway Community Services received $28.8 million in Medicaid funds from the state of Maine, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Access Act request.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Maine are attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles as a “racist” simply for raising concerns about the fraud — because nothing says “we have no counterargument” like slapping the race card on the table for the thousandth time.
This scandal comes as ICE surges into the Minneapolis area to target illegal immigrants from Somalia following revelations of at least $1 billion in fraud, with some of the money allegedly finding its way to the radical Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab. Yes, you read that correctly: taxpayer dollars potentially helping fund terrorists. But sure — let’s keep pretending the real threat is someone questioning the system.
State employees have also accused Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of “systemic” retaliation against whistleblowers who tried to warn about the fraud schemes. Walz himself admitted on “Meet the Press” that Minnesota “attracts criminals,” though he insisted Somali residents should not be “demonized.” Funny how that talking point never applies to conservatives.
Gateway Community Services and Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment — always a promising sign.
At the end of the day, the pattern is becoming hard to ignore: massive fraud, ignored warnings, retaliation against whistleblowers, and Democrats more concerned with policing language than policing criminals. Thankfully, with strong leadership back in Washington, accountability is making a comeback — and that’s something to be optimistic about.
