Which Somali-owned clinics in Minnesota faced Medicaid fraud prosecutions and what were their charges?

1. What prosecutors have charged: named defendants and programs

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota filed a public release charging the “first defendant” in an autism fraud scheme — Asha Farhan Hassan — accusing her of recruiting Somali families into a provider called Smart Therapy, arranging fraudulent autism qualifications, submitting inflated and fabricated Medicaid claims, and seeking reimbursement for hours not provided ^[1]. Separately, federal indictments announced in connection with the Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program named at least eight individuals, including Moktar Hassan Aden and several others, and prosecutors said those HSS indictments are only “the first round” of cases expected from the office ^[3].

2. Facilities and ownership described in reporting

Multiple outlets and investigative pieces link the surge in autism providers and new autism clinics to the Somali community in Minnesota, saying many of the new providers were owned or operated by Somali-Americans and that programs such as Smart Therapy were used to enroll children and bill Medicaid ^{[3] [1] [4]}. Some commentary and aggregator sites describe “nearly 100 autism clinics” under investigation statewide, though local official releases named specific defendants rather than issuing a single enumerated list of affected clinic names in the sources provided ^{[4] [1]}.

3. Specific charges and alleged conduct

The DOJ release lays out specific allegations against Hassan: recruiting children, working with a qualified service provider to obtain autism service eligibility when there was none, submitting claims with fraudulent signatures, and billing for maximum allowed hours when far fewer (or no) services had been provided ^[1]. For HSS-related prosecutions, reporting indicates criminal indictments for HSS fraud were announced with named defendants; prosecutors characterized these HSS cases as often involving more than simple overbilling ^[3].

4. Scope and dollar figures reported

City Journal and subsequent outlets quote rapid growth in autism-related Medicaid spending — from $3 million in 2018 to $399 million in 2023 — and a jump in registered autism providers from 41 to 328 over several years, figures invoked to convey scale ^{[3] [4]}. Some pieces and commentators assert the combined fraud across multiple welfare and Medicaid programs “now totals in the billions,” though that aggregate comes from investigative reporting and commentary, not a single official consolidated figure in the sources supplied ^{[2] [3]}.

5. Allegations about funds reaching Somalia and counterterrorism concerns

Several reports cite former federal counterterrorism officials and investigative authors who say some money stolen from Minnesota welfare programs may have been routed overseas through informal transfer networks (hawalas), and that portions may have reached or benefited Al-Shabaab; these claims are presented as findings or warnings from investigators rather than as court adjudications in the cited pieces ^{[5] [3] [4]}. The sources show prosecutors and commentators raising national-security concerns, but they do not present court determinations that funds were definitively channeled to a terror group in the sources provided ^{[5] [2]}.

6. What the public record in these sources does and does not list

Available sources identify specific defendants (for example, Asha Farhan Hassan and the named HSS defendants) and describe schemes and programs implicated, but the materials provided do not contain an exhaustive, sourced list of “all Somali-owned clinics” that faced prosecutions by name; instead, they report on growth in provider numbers, specific charged individuals, and investigations of many clinics ^{[1] [4] [3]}. Available sources do not mention a single, authoritative roster of every clinic or business ownership details for each provider under scrutiny ^{[4] [3]}.

7. Competing perspectives and potential agendas in the coverage

Conservative outlets and think-tank reporting emphasize scale, alleged links to terrorism, and political implications ^{[2] [6]}. Other pieces cite law-enforcement and counterterrorism sources warning about money flows abroad ^[5]. Some commentary frames the story as evidence of systemic failure or “assimilation” problems in local immigrant communities ^[7]. Readers should note that the supplied sources mix prosecutorial statements and investigative claims with opinionated analysis; the DOJ release ^[1] is the clearest primary-source account of specific criminal allegations.

8. Bottom line for your query

If you want a verified list of named clinics and formal charges, the authoritative details in these sources are: Asha Farhan Hassan charged in an autism fraud scheme involving Smart Therapy with allegations of fraudulent recruitment and billing ^[1]; multiple defendants have been indicted in HSS-related fraud cases with names listed in reporting ^[3]. Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, court-verified list of every Somali-owned clinic prosecuted by name; for full, official lists consult U.S. Attorney press releases and court dockets beyond the materials provided here ^{[1] [3]}.