Dem-appointed judge under fire for tossing $7M Medicaid fraud conviction tied to Minnesota couple’s ‘lavish lifestyle’
A Minnesota judge has come under fire after she threw out a $7.2 million fraud verdict against a couple who were found to have siphoned Medicaid money to back their “lavish lifestyle” of designer clothes and fancy cars.
The husband, Abdifatah Yusuf, 44, was charged in June 2024. A jury found him guilty in August 2025 on six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle, after his and his wife’s (Lul Ahmed, 41) home‑based health‑care operation fraudulently appropriated millions from the state’s Medicaid program.
In mid‑November, Judge Sarah West dismissed the conviction, citing a lack of solid evidence and the possibility of “reasonable interferences.” The decision was made after a brief deliberation, according to a juror who said the state’s case didn’t rise to the level of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
West, who was named to the bench by former Governor Mark Dayton in 2018, expressed concern that the fraud could have been carried out at the couple’s shuttered practice, even though she vacated the guilty verdict. The Attorney General’s Office claimed that Yusuf funneled more than $1 million from the business into his own account and withdrew over $387,000 in cash.
The ruling has sparked outrage among many Minnesotans, including jury members who were shocked by the judge’s action. Yusuf’s legal team said the decision “affirms” his innocence.
Keith Ellison, the state’s Attorney General, has appealed the judge’s decision. “Stealing money meant for poor people’s health care and using it to buy luxury cars and designer clothes is as shameful and disgraceful as it gets,” Ellison said after Yusuf’s conviction. He also warned that fraud is “a stain on our state’s reputation.”
The state is already dealing with a larger audit of the Feeding Our Future program, which uncovered massive embezzlement of COVID‑19 relief funds. The Manhattan Institute, in a late‑November report, linked the scheme to funds funneled to a Somali terror group, Al-Shabaab. President Trump’s administration has taken a hard line on Somali nationals in Minnesota, citing concerns over gang activity and large sums of money disappearing. Governor Walz is facing criticism from the Department of Human Services, which says the governor bears responsibility for the “massive fraud.”
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