Medicaid and Welfare Fraud

Hennepin County Judge Sarah West overturned a unanimous jury conviction against Abdifatah Yusuf in late November, vacating six theft counts tied to a $7.2 million Medicaid fraud scheme after finding the state’s circumstantial case did not exclude reasonable alternative inferences. West wrote that evidence supported a rational inference that Yusuf’s brother, Mohamed, could have committed the fraud without Abdifatah’s knowledge, a decision that has drawn political criticism and renewed scrutiny of Minnesota’s strict circumstantial‑evidence standard now under review by the state Supreme Court.