Walz warned about African official operating Minnesota group homes from overseas

Lawmakers are warning Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) about a high-ranking foreign government official based in Africa, who is reportedly moonlighting as the director of multiple Minnesota group homes that have, in addition to numerous other Minneapolis-area assisted living facilities he has business ties to, collectively received roughly $36 million in taxpayer funds through the state.

All four Republican members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation, led by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), sent a letter to Walz on Tuesday that flags a recent investigative report into the overseas operations drawing in millions of tax dollars annually over the past decade.

According to MPR News, an African official named Sekou Dukuly has had an ownership stake in or set up the companies behind at least two dozen Minnesota group homes, almost all situated in the Twin Cities suburbs. Some of the group homes have operated out of houses he owns or has owned, and until last month, he was also the director of day-to-day operations at three of them.

MPR News discovered that Dukuly, now the newly appointed managing director of Liberia’s government-owned port authority, relocated to the West African nation in 2024 while still running at least three Minnesota group homes. Dukuly was listed as the assisted living facilities’ site director as of August, according to a state licensing database, despite living in Liberia.

In 2024, an emcee at a ceremony celebrating Dukuly’s government appointment praised his business acumen. Dukuly has been “delivering multimillion-dollar profit increases everywhere he worked,” the emcee said at the ceremony in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.

Wire transfer receipts obtained by MPR News show that business partners funneled the group home profits into bank accounts tied to alleged financial schemes in Minnesota and abroad.

The state issued licenses and paid out Medicaid claims to the Dukuly-linked healthcare companies purporting to provide care and supervision to disabled or mentally ill Minnesotans, but the investigation by MPR News and its national investigative unit, APM Reports, found instances of residents being neglected and even dying at care sites associated with Dukuly.

HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID

State authorities have investigated suspected maltreatment at Dukuly-affiliated facilities on 22 occasions, including several cases resulting in resident deaths, and local law enforcement disclosed knowing some of the group home addresses by heart, because of frequent 911 calls from neighbors, staff, and residents concerning fights, overdoses, and a gun once found on facility premises. In one police report, a responding officer wrote that “the living conditions seemed to be fairly unsanitary,” citing unfinished drinks and cigarette butts on the floor. In another police affidavit, officers observed staff “making jokes” and “mocking” a patient experiencing a mental health crisis. “Shoot me. “Kill me,” the individual told the police, as he held a broken glass cup and declared he wanted to hurt himself.

Although authorities have not lodged fraud allegations against Dukuly specifically, a site operative who ran six Dukuly-tied group homes was stripped of his license in April 2026 after pleading guilty to Medicaid fraud at a previous employer. Michael Nornie, one of Dukuly’s assisted living directors, admitted to defrauding Medicaid — at a prior company with no apparent connections to Dukuly — and was subsequently banned from operating group homes in the state. But rather than hiring a replacement, Dukuly became the sole director of three assisted living facilities, according to the MPR News investigation.

In Tuesday’s letter addressed to Walz, the Minnesota House Republicans said that the case involving Dukuly is “another troubling example” of his administration’s failure to detect fraud within the state’s public assistance programs.

“This is a systematic failure of your administration’s oversight mechanisms that continues to permeate across the state,” the congressmen told Walz.

Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on oversight of fraud and misuse of Federal funds in Minnesota, Wed., March 4, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Emmer, joined by Reps. Pete Stauber, Michelle Fischbach, and Brad Finstad questioned why state regulators continue to miss fraud indicators and why medical providers facing credible fraud allegations remain eligible to receive public funding. They urged state agencies under Walz to take proactive steps to prevent fraud rather than respond after funds are stolen and vulnerable residents are harmed in the process.

“Minnesotans are tired of learning about another alleged fraud scheme only after billions of taxpayer dollars have been placed at risk,” the representatives wrote. “They deserve transparency, accountability, and lasting reform.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to Walz’s office to inquire whether he intends to follow up on the findings brought to his attention. Their warning letter comes as state and federal officials continue to uncover similar Medicaid scams that are actively stealing from Minnesota’s publicly funded safety-net system.

THESE ARE THE WALZ APPOINTEES WHO FAILED TO STOP RAMPANT MINNESOTA FRAUD

“Our state’s tax dollars are being siphoned off by the millions, and yet Governor Walz sits on his hands and refuses to do anything about it,” Emmer said in a statement raising awareness about Dukuly’s group home empire. “This likely fraud scheme doesn’t just hurt Minnesota taxpayers, it hurts the vulnerable individuals in the group homes this Liberian national claimed to run.”

U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has identified more than a dozen Medicaid service categories in Minnesota’s social services sector that are highly susceptible to fraud. Adult daycare, personal care assistance, recuperative care, companion services, and residential treatment are among the 14 state-administered service areas considered “high-risk for billing irregularities or fraud.”

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