A judge in Minneapolis has sparked rage after she decided to overturn a taxpayer fraud conviction that saw a husband and wife go down for robbing $7.2 million from people.
Abdifatah Yusuf, 44, was found guilty of robbing innocent taxpayers through a home healthcare care company called Promise Health in August.
A jury found that he and his wife, Lul Ahmed, ran a deceitful Medicaid fraud scheme out of a mailbox at the so-called medical company and used the money for ‘lavish’ shopping sprees, including trips to name brand and designer stores like Coach, Canada Goose, Nike, Michael Kors, and to purchase high end cars, according to prosecutors.
But in a shocking twist of events, and months after Yusuf was found responsible for directing the massive scam, Judge Sarah West decided last week that the jury was all wrong and he should be let off the hook.
She defended her choice by stating that the case ‘relied heavily on circumstantial evidence’ and that the state of Minnesota did not rule out other potential ‘reasonable inferences.’
Her decision to overturn the case, which is extremely rare especially in criminal cases, has ignited a fire storm not just for the general public but for the jurors who sealed his fate.
‘I am shocked. I’m shocked based off of all of the evidence that was presented to us and the obvious guilt that we saw based off of the said evidence,’ jury foreperson Ben Walfoort told KARE 11 News.
‘It was not a difficult decision whatsoever. The deliberation took probably four hours at most. Based off of the state’s evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt,’ he added.
Minnesota Judge Sarah West has sparked an uproar after deciding to overturn Abdifatah Yusuf’s verdict. The 44-year-old was found guilty of bilking tax payers out of $7.2 million through a phony Medicare scam
A jury found that he and his wife, Lul Ahmed, ran a deceitful Medicaid fraud scheme out of a mailbox and used the money they made on ‘lavish’ shopping sprees, including trips to name brand and designer stores like Coach, Canada Goose, Nike, Michael Kors, and to purchase high end cars. (Pictured: Stock image of Minneapolis)
Another juror on the case echoed Walfoort’s stance, telling the outlet: ‘We didn’t take our job lightly. We went through a lot of evidence and discussed a lot, took our time, but we all came to an agreement pretty easily.’
Local politicians have also been left outraged over West’s drastic decision, including State Rep. Kristin Robbins.
‘I was stunned. We want to strengthen state law so that we can get prosecutions out of these cases. Because clearly a jury thought he was guilty,’ the Republican said.
Despite now ruling in favor of the once convicted fraudsters, West noted she is still ‘troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated at Promise Health.’
In response to West’s decision, the Attorney General’s Officer, run by Democrat Keith Ellison, filed an appeal on Monday.
It is rare for prosecutors to appeal an acquittal, but this case is unique because it overturns the jury’s final decision.
While many people are up in arms about the acquittal, Yousef’s attorney, Ian Birrell, expressed he and his client’s gratitude.
‘Judge West’s ruling affirms what we have maintained from the beginning: our client Mr. Yusuf was wrongfully accused and did not commit fraud or racketeering.
‘The Court’s decision to enter judgments of acquittal on all charges reflects the fundamental principle that justice requires both fairness and proof. We appreciate the Court’s careful attention to the evidence and the law,’ Birrell told the outlet.
FBI raids Minnesota nonprofit Feeding our Future on January 20, 2022. Feeding Our Future was the largest nonprofit that was getting state and federal dollars to feed low-income children. Prosecutors say that money was actually going toward luxury homes, cars, jewelry and real estate abroad
Yousef was found to have directed more than $1 million from the business account to his personal account, and also withdrew over $387,000 in cash, the attorney general’s office said.
For that he was found guilty of six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle (over $35,000).
The Daily Mail contacted West and Birrell for comment.
News of the controversial conviction overturn comes as fraudsters have been shaking up the state’s social safety landscape by stealing more than $1 billion in public funds from programs meant to feed children, assist the homeless and provide autism therapy.
Over the last five years, people mostly within Somali communities have gotten rich by running companies that bill the state for millions of dollars in social services that were never actually rendered, The New York Times reported.
Federal prosecutors say of the 86 people that have been charged, 59 have been convicted so far in what they describe as three separate fraud schemes.
One central case involved the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which claimed to serve tens of thousands of meals to low-income children during the pandemic.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (pictured November 13) was recently blasted by President Donald Trump, who called his stated ‘a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity’
Prosecutors allege most of those meals never existed, and instead, the taxpayer money went to luxury homes, cars, jewelry and real estate abroad.
‘No one will support these programs if they continue to be riddled with fraud,’ Joseph H Thompson, the federal prosecutor who took on the cases, told The Times. ‘We’re losing our way of life in Minnesota in a very real way.’
Given the scale of the situation, President Donald Trump has weighed in, criticizing Governor Tim Walz for allowing Minnesota to become ‘a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.’
He said the perpetrators should be ‘sent back to where they came from.’ He later said he would be revoking the temporary protected status of the roughly 700 Somali nationals who have it, which prevents them from being deported.
