Eight charged with fraud through Minnesota housing program

Federal officials on Thursday charged eight individuals with wire fraud for their roles in a scheme that they said drained state resources intended to help house the elderly and people with disabilities. The charges were the first wave in a slew of cases involving fraud connected to the Minnesota Housing Stability Services Program, said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson. In 2020, Minnesota became the first state to offer Medicaid funding for housing support services. Prosecutors said the defendants obtained and misused millions of dollars in Medicaid funds. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

How have state officials reacted to the charges? Democratic State Attorney General Keith Ellison said the charges were a good step in the right direction to fighting fraud in the state. Republican State House Rep. Kristin Robbins said Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz failed to hold agencies accountable to stop fraud early on and claimed the Department of Human Services initially ignored credible reports of fraud.

Who was named in the charges? Prosecutors accused Moktar Hassan Aden, Mustafa Dayib Ali, Khalid Ahmed Dayib, and Abdifitah Mohamud Mohamed of enrolling Aden’s company to be a Housing Stability Services provider in 2022. The company, called Brilliant Minds Services LLC, was supposed to provide housing consulting, transitioning, and support services to qualifying individuals. However, authorities said that defendants actually submitted fake claims amounting to about $2.3 million from September 2022 to April 2025.

Father-and-son defendants Christopher Adesoji Falade and Emmanuel Oluwademilade Falade ran Faladecare Inc. and allegedly claimed more than $2.2 million through fraudulent or inflated claims. Prosecutors said Asad Ahmed Adow’s company Leo Human Services LLC received about $2.7 million for fraudulent or inflated claims through the Housing Stability Services program, and Anwar Ahmed Adow claimed more than $1.2 million through his company Liberty Plus LLC.

What is the history of the program? Minnesota’s new program had a low barrier to entry for providers and beneficiaries and had minimal requirements for reimbursement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The state DHS last month notified the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it would end the program. The program lacked necessary controls to prevent fraud, said DHS Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi.