In Feeding Our Future 2.0, the FBI raids autism clinics

Reporter Deena Winter of the Minnesota Star Tribune was the first to break the story on Twitter (X) this morning:

Winter followed up with a story on the Star Tribune website under the lead:

The FBI is searching at least two Minnesota autism centers Thursday morning as part of an investigation that it said revealed “substantial evidence” of fraudulent Medicaid claims

On Twitter (X) Winter notes that:

Federal search warrant says they’re investigating autism centers, including several created by people involved in the Feeding Our Future federal fraud case.

Winter confirms that two centers were raided this morning: Smart Therapy Center in Minneapolis and Star Autism Center in St. Cloud. Unconfirmed rumors have as many as nine locations being targeted. Call this scandal “Feeding Our Future 2.0.”

The Sahan Journal reports that the two clinics “cater to East African clients.”

Winter reports that the two named clinics have billed millions of dollars to the state Dept. of Human Services (DHS) in recent years.

We’ve obtained a copy of the search warrant applications for these two facilities. It includes a treasure trove of information but names no names.

The FBI included the two addresses noted above in this warrant. The case involves alleged Medicaid fraud of the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program offered through the state DHS. As a shorthand, we lump these range of services together under the heading “autism clinics.”

The FBI search warrant includes this chart (p. 16, paragraph 42) illustrating the massive growth of the program in Minnesota since it was first offered in 2017. Total claims paid out since 2017 have likely surpassed $700 million, to all providers. Services are available under EIDBI to patients under age 21.

According to corporate records, Smart Therapy Center LLC (Minneapolis) was incorporated in November 2019 and has a manager-of-record listed under the name Asha Hassan. The FBI refers only to an individual with the initials A.H. (p. 17, para. 45). It is not known if these are the same two individuals. The Star Tribune notes that Hassan could not be reached for comment.

The FBI reports that in 2020 Smart Therapy began to participate in the free-food program through the nonprofit Feeding Our Future (p. 18 para. 50). In May 2021, Smart Therapy claimed to be feeding 616 children per day, two meals per day, seven days per week (p. 21, para. 58). Smart Therapy’s food vendor was reported to be S&S Catering (p. 22, para. 59). The FBI notes that the S&S owner, Qamar Hassan, has pled guilty in the Feeding Our Future case. (Feeding Our Future Defendant No. 23, Guilty Plea No. 11). Smart Therapy received $465,000 from the food program in 2020 and 2021 (p. 23, para. 60).

The FBI reports that Smart Therapy has received nearly $14 million from the EIDBI program over the years (p. 23, para. 61). The FBI mentions the involvement of another individual within Smart Therapy, (“S.Q.”), who may be related to Qamar Hassan (p. 23, para. 62). Patients were transported to and from the clinic under a different Medicaid program (p. 24, para. 65).

The FBI questions the validity of a number of Smart Therapy billings which total nearly $1 million (p. 26, para. 71 through p. 33, para. 91).

The FBI documents instances where Smart Therapy allegedly billed for in-person services provided by an individual who was proven to be overseas at the time (p. 30).

Star Autism Center LLC (St. Cloud) was first incorporated in August 2020. The FBI refers to the involvement of an individual, “A.H.Y.” (p. 34, para. 93). The Star Tribune mentions the name Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf found in corporate records but reports that Yussuf denies any wrongdoing in the case.

Records maintained by the state Dept. of Education indicate that Star Autism was registered to participate in the free-food program through the nonprofit Partners in Nutrition.

Star Autism enrolled in the EIDBI program in October 2020 (p. 34, para. 96). Since then, Star Autism has received more than $6 million from the program (p. 35, para.97).

As with Smart Therapy, the FBI questions a number of invoices submitted by Star Autism, totaling almost $920,000 (p. 35, para. 99 through p. 39, para. 113).

As before, some of these billings involved services allegedly provided in Minnesota by individuals known to be outside the U.S. at the time (cf. para. 102).

No one has been charged in connection with this current scandal.

Stay tuned for more!