The main suspect in a Medicaid fraud scheme that took nearly $11 million from Minnesota taxpayers has vanished, and officials are looking for him.
Fifty-year-old Abdirashid Ismail Said was due to appear in Hennepin County court on Wednesday but did not show up and forfeited a $150,000 bond, Fox 9 reported Friday.
“Said avoided being ordered to surrender his passport by paying the unconditional bond amount of $150,000. The conditional bond, which would have required him to surrender his passport, was set at $50,000,” the outlet said, noting he is one of three others facing theft by swindle charges in the case.
Investigators had voiced concerns that Said had a wife and child living in Nairobi, Kenya, and it was possible he could flee, hide, or prevent officials from executing the warrant.
Said appeared in court in 2025 regarding the case, and he was charged with ten counts including perjury, racketeering, and aiding and abetting a theft by swindle, KARE reported in September.
The outlet said he was convicted 2021 in a separate theft by swindle case, and he was ordered not to work with companies that accept Medicaid reimbursements:
“His alleged co-conspirators, Ali Abdirizak Ahmed and Said Awil Ibrahim, were charged in Hennepin County District Court with racketeering and aiding and abetting theft by swindle. Ahmed’s arrest was still being sought on those charges, court records show, while Ibrahim is set for trial on June 8,” the Epoch Times reported Saturday.
The news of Said’s disappearance comes after citizen journalist Nick Shirley exposed rampant fraud in the state of Minnesota, linked to its Somali community, Breitbart News reported in December.
In February, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights held a hearing on the issue.
“After rampant fraud was exposed in Minnesota, the Trump administration has taken measures to investigate and stem the tide of stolen taxpayer dollars, including USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins cutting off agency grants to the state and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launching investigations into the Somali community,” according to Breitbart News.
A warrant has been issued for Said due to his failure to appear in court on Wednesday.
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