Some Feeding Our Future defendants had ties to autism centers

Diana E. Murphy federal courthouse is shown in Minneapolis Friday, May 17, 2024. Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer.

Five of the 70 defendants in the massive federal Feeding Our Future fraud case had ties to Medicaid-funded autism centers, at least two of which continue to operate today, state records show.

The FBI is investigating possible Medicaid fraud in Minnesota’s autism program, the Reformer reported last month.

In the Feeding Our Future case, 70 people have been charged so far with defrauding a federal child nutrition program intended to feed hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the U.S. Department of Justice has secured 23 convictions — including five last month after the first jury trial — while dozens more await trial.

Many of the 70 defendants had other nonprofits and companies that did business with the state. About half of the defendants have been paid tens of millions of dollars for services such as providing child care and assisting seniors and people with disabilities.

Thomas Brever, an attorney for one of the defendants, has told the Reformer that federal officials expanded the Feeding Our Future investigation into other areas, such as adult daycares. And autism centers.

Among the Feeding Our Future defendants with ties to autism centers:

• Yusuf Bashir Ali of Vadnais Heights was an officer of the Hennepin Autism Center, which was incorporated in November 2020 in Minneapolis. Ali was removed as an officer two years later — a couple of months after he was charged with wire fraud and money laundering in the Feeding Our Future case. Prosecutors say Ali ran a food distribution site called Youth Inventors Lab that falsely claimed to serve about 1.5 million meals in seven months. The Hennepin Autism Center received over a half million dollars in payments in 2021, $1.6 million in 2022 and $2.1 million in 2023, according to state Department of Human Services records. The center continues to have “active enrollments” with DHS. The center did not respond to a request for comment.
• Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed of Columbus, Ohio, was listed as an organizer of the Mercy Autism Center LLC in Minneapolis, which was incorporated in February 2020, according to secretary of state records. Ahmed was an owner of Safari Restaurant, which prosecutors say fraudulently received more than $16 million in federal funds. He faces two money laundering charges.
• Sahra Mohamed Nur of St. Anthony founded the Bright Future Autism Center in July 2021, according to state records. Last year, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering through a site called Academy For Youth Excellence, which prosecutors said was a shell company that listed its meal supplier as S&S Catering, which Nur co-owned and claimed to serve 1.2 million meals to children in a five-month period. Sahra admitted in court that S&S Catering prepared a fraction of those meals, but received $6 million from the federal government, according to Sahan Journal .
• Liban Yasin Alishire of Brooklyn Park is listed as one of the people who incorporated the MSP Special Learning Center Inc. in November 2020, according to state records. The autism center received nearly $46,000 in payments in 2022, and nearly $160,000 in 2023, according to DHS records. The center continues to have “active enrollments,” according to DHS. Allshire pleaded guilty in January 2023 to wire fraud and money laundering, fraudulently getting reimbursed $712,000 for himself and entities he controlled. As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to forfeit $712,084, a boat and trailer, a Ford F150 pickup truck, an apartment unit in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Karibu Palms Resort on the Indian Ocean in Kenya.
• Bekam Addissu Merdassa of Inver Grove Heights owned an autism clinic called Epic Therapy in St. Paul, according to an FBI search warrant . Epic Therapy was paid over $106,000 for autism services in 2020 and over $613,000 in 2021, according to DHS records. Epic Therapy also signed up for the federal child nutrition program, and was authorized to distribute free food to up to 5,500 children per day. Merdassa pleaded guilty to using his nonprofit called Youth Inventors Lab as a shell company enrolled in the food program and submitting fake invoices for food from vendor S&S Catering. He and others claimed to serve over 1.3 million meals over seven months to get over $3 million in federal funds, although prosecutors said  Youth Inventors Lab never received any meals from S&S Catering to serve.

State considering licensing autism centers

Autism benefits are part of the Minnesota Health Care Programs, which provide coverage to families with children, adults, people with disabilities and seniors.

The Minnesota autism program has quickly grown since it launched in mid-2015. The number of providers — who diagnose and treat people with autism spectrum disorder — has increased 700% in the past five years, climbing from 41 providers in 2018 to 328 last year.

The amount paid to providers during that time has increased 3,000%, from about $6 million to nearly $192 million — according to data provided to the Reformer by DHS, which administers Minnesota’s Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people and people with disabilities.

State officials are looking at whether some autism centers’ caseloads are too high and whether the state should begin licensing the centers.

The state is investigating 15 autism providers and has already completed other investigations, withheld payments due to credible fraud allegations and forwarded cases to law enforcement, according to a DHS spokesman.

DHS’s Office of Inspector General has withheld payments to seven providers since 2018: five due to credible fraud allegations, one because a provider refused to give DHS access to records, and one to protect the public welfare and Minnesota Health Care Programs. Five providers were referred to the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

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