State Courts and Appeals

Minnesota Judge Sarah West vacated an August jury conviction of Abdifatah Yusuf on six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle over an alleged $7.2 million Medicaid fraud tied to Promise Health, ruling the case relied heavily on circumstantial evidence and did not exclude reasonable alternative inferences. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, led by Keith Ellison, has appealed the November ruling; jurors and a state lawmaker expressed surprise, while the defense hailed the acquittal.