A Minneapolis man has been charged with attempt to defraud Minnesota Medicaid programs of more than $3 million, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday.
Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd, 57, is accused of using his business, Guardian Home Health Services, to bill for home care services that were never provided, according to charges filed Tuesday in Hennepin County by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
The criminal complaint alleges Omarxeyd billed the state for personal care assistant services for clients who were in jail or the hospital.
In one case, Omarxeyd submitted claims reporting three hours of services for more than a month while a client was in the hospital, according to the complaint. Medicaid paid out more than $2,100 for services that could not be provided.
That type of billing was not an “isolated incident,” the attorney general’s office said in court documents. The complaint details several other similar incidents, including one where the company claimed reimbursement for a client who was in jail for a little more than a week in 2022.
The alleged fraud, which took place between 2020 and 2024, involved personal care assistant services, companion care services, homemaking services, respite care services, individualized home supports, and comprehensive community support services, the attorney general’s office said.
Former workers told investigators that they did not provide services to beneficiaries and worked with Omarxeyd to make claims anyway, according to the complaint. Through witnesses and financial records, investigators found that Omarxeyd and his company paid kickbacks to recipients of services.
In all, Omarxeyd, his wife and other companies he owned received a total of more than $2 million from Guardian Home Health Services of the $3 million fraudulently charged, the attorney general alleges.
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“Defrauding programs that provide healthcare to low-income Minnesotans is a truly despicable act,” Ellison said in a news release announcing the charges. “This action is the latest in our ongoing work to root out fraudsters and hold accountable those who steal from Medicaid.”
Court records did not list an attorney for Omarxeyd on Wednesday. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Feb. 3.
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