Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), whose administration is accused of allowing Somali fraudsters to target Minnesota’s child care subsidies program, received nearly $10,000 in campaign contributions from supporters connected to Somali-operated day care centers.
The Democratic donors involved in Somali day cares and home health services have written considerable checks to Walz’s gubernatorial campaign, according to campaign finance filings compiled by the Washington Examiner.
Like the Somali-run child care facilities highlighted by videographer Nick Shirley, these companies appear as legitimate businesses on paper, but upon closer inspection, some appear not to be operational.
Walz’s 2022 reelection campaign received $1,000 from Mohamed Rabi, of Hiawatha Adult Day Center Inc, which does not have its own website, for instance.
Third-party sites operating out of New Jersey list the facility’s address as Franklin Avenue, a crime hot spot in south Minneapolis. The adult day care center is supposedly housed within a run-down strip mall, occupying four commercial suites next to African Immigrants Community Services, a refugee resettlement program helping East Africans obtain public benefits.
Doing business as Hiawatha Senior Center, the entity is actively registered with the Minnesota Department of Education as a child nutrition organization, receiving reimbursements for meals and snacks served at the center through the state’s federally funded Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The state Department of Human Services previously cited the center for failing to provide patient records, including medical history, monthly progress reports, medication regimen, and notes on treatment.
Yusuf Hassan, a business consultant, is listed as the center’s chief executive officer. Hassan was also the director of Loving Arms Adult Daycare, another agency that lacked a discernible digital footprint and received payments through the state nutrition program.
In 2021, Walz received a $1,000 campaign contribution from Khadar Jama, of Open Hearts Home Health Care, a Minneapolis-based at-home care provider that also lacks an independent website.
The care center’s office address is the same as Caring Home Health’s listed location, which traces back to a three-bedroom residential home. Caring Home Health, a Somali-owned assisted living facility licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health, was flagged in 2024 for a number of safety violations, including insufficient patient care plans, according to a DHS inspection report.
WALZ ALLIES LED STATE AGENCIES THAT OVERSAW MASSIVE ALLEGED SOMALI DAY CARE FRAUD
When Walz first ran for governor in 2018, he received $2,250 from Abdiwadi Husen, of Minnesota Quality Care, and $500 from Nazneen Khatoon, of Best Care Home Health Care.
Best Care was under investigation in 2023 for suspected maltreatment. According to a memorandum, the DHS inspector general’s office discovered “neglect of a vulnerable adult” in the facility’s care. The incident involved a staff member smoking marijuana during a patient’s medical appointment and then driving the client, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, home while under the influence.
That year, Best Care was also issued a correction order for repeatedly failing to develop individual abuse prevention plans as required and for failing to complete well-being assessments.
One past Yelp review claimed that Best Care “seem[ed] more concerned about making money than doing a good job,” citing billing as the facility’s top priority.
In 2023, a judge found that Best Care improperly collected $2.23 million in Minnesota Health Care Program funds and ordered the organization to pay a penalty for the overpayments, which resulted from documentation errors.
Best Care was previously accused in civil court of fraudulently billing or overcharging the federal government for healthcare services that were never actually performed. The staff allegedly forged fraudulent nursing notes, which Best Care reportedly submitted as proof of care to collect Medicare and Medicaid payments. In 2014, Best Care reached a settlement agreement with the federal government, which resulted from a case brought by whistleblower claims.
In a separate 2002 suit, the U.S. government lodged civil proceedings against Best Care for allegedly submitting fraudulent Medicare reimbursement claims. According to the complaint, Best Care, “by and through Khatoon,” billed Medicare on behalf of two other healthcare organizations that were not eligible for reimbursements themselves because they were not certified as Medicare providers, and agreed to split the payments.
Between 2017 and 2018, Kenyan-born businessman Siyad Abdullahi, of Somali descent, donated a total of $4,000 to Walz’s campaign coffers.
Abdullahi, a self-described “nationally recognized expert in cultural competency,” is the co-founder of several Minneapolis-area companies, including Midwest Career Institute, The Language Banc, and Pro-Health Home Care Agency, a home and community-based service eligible for Medicaid reimbursements.
Pro-Health Home Care, sometimes stylized as Pro-Health Care Inc., supplies “culturally appropriate” caregivers outside of a hospital setting for post-discharge senior citizens and other incapacitated individuals. Aside from non-medical personal care assistants, an intake coordinator said that there are currently no skilled nurses available, as advertised, and recommended seeking private-duty nursing services elsewhere in Minnesota. Abdullahi had told the press that they have over 700 professionally trained caretakers, including licensed nurses, on hand.
MINNESOTA HUMAN SERVICES EMPLOYEES BLAME WALZ FOR ‘MASSIVE FRAUD’ IN STATE
The Language Banc, which has since been acquired by Piedmont Global Language Solutions, purportedly had more than 1,000 contracted translators available around the clock to provide 24/7 interpretation services for communicating medical matters.
However, one client review on the company’s Yelp page warned, “Scammer, using unqualified or uneducated interpreters for medical interpreting. Beware!”
A data entry employee, who later became a business developer for Language Banc, sued Abdullahi in federal court, claiming that she was not paid overtime, despite working almost 60 hours a week, and was not allowed to take lunch breaks. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in 2015 for unspecified reasons.
Neighboring a used car lot, the Language Banc was located inside a small building, now home to the newly shuttered Kids Care Center, a separate Somali-owned business that was fined for failing to perform proper background checks on its staff.
Abdullahi’s Language Banc took over the commercial space from Midwest Career Institute after the vocational school, which trained bilingual healthcare workers, dissolved following its brief operation.
The companies combined produced a revenue of $6 million, Abdullahi told Twin Cities Business in 2013.
“CHAMS Media, Your Visibility Partner,” a Kenyan-based content production and promotional brand-marketing company, recently released a documentary-length profile praising Abdullahi as a “celebrated…leader in Minnesota” running multiple healthcare-related businesses.
In the video, Abdullahi explained to Kenyan viewers where Minneapolis is and “how to make it in business abroad as a foreigner.” The footage also featured photos of Abdullahi, a Hillary Clinton donor, posing for one-on-one pictures with the former Secretary of State and former President Bill Clinton.
WALZ SAYS HE WOULD ‘WELCOME MORE’ SOMALIS AS FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTENSIFIES
Local news outlets in Minneapolis have published similar stories touting Abdullahi’s entrepreneurial success. Business Journal’s Minneapolis-St. Paul Division declared Abdullahi one of the Most Admired CEOs of 2020, and Language Banc the 20th fastest-growing company in the Twin Cities region at that time.
In Minneapolis, Abdullahi has held several positions on city committees tasked with advising the mayor and city council on policy and budgetary matters. Among them, Abdullahi served as a business representative on the Minneapolis Workforce Council, a member of the Minneapolis Public Health Advisory Committee, and by mayoral appointment on the city’s Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee.
Abdullahi unsuccessfully ran for governor of Wajir County in Kenya’s 2022 gubernatorial races.
The Washington Examiner contacted Walz’s office and other parties mentioned in the article for comment.
