Tipsheet

Another Somali Fraudster Learns His Fate and It's Absolutely Maddening

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  May 08, 2026 8:00 AM

Tim Walz insists his state is taking fraud seriously. Amy Klobuchar promises to audit the state for fraud if she's elected Governor later this year. But none of them will bat an eye at this latest story of a Somali fraudster getting off easy.

Said Awil Ibrahim pleaded guilty in a nearly $11 million case Ellison’s office has called the state's largest Medicaid fraud prosecution. Despite that, Ellison's office cut a deal with Ibrahim that means he will serve absolutely no time behind bars.

Here's more:

Said Awil Ibrahim pleaded guilty May 1 under a deal with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office that calls for five years of supervised probation and a stayed 150-day jail sentence in a nearly $11 million case Ellison’s office has called the state's largest Medicaid fraud prosecution. Per the terms of his plea agreement, he will also be required to help authorities track down his missing fugitive co-defendant, alleged mastermind Abdirashid Ismail Said.

Minnesota’s fraud scandals intensified in late 2025, as federal and state authorities expanded scrutiny into pandemic-era schemes involving suspects largely from the state’s Somali community. 

Said testified at a hearing in 2023 that cultural misunderstanding was a factor in the fraud cases, arguing at the time that investigators did not understand that people within the Minneapolis Somali community often transfer funds to each other in ways that don't produce paper trails, local media reported at the time. 

Said failed to show up for a mandated court appearance in early April after Hennepin County District Court Judge Juan Hoyos granted him a bond set at $150,000. The terms of the bond allowed Said to retain possession of his passport, even as the Medicare Fraud Control Unit, which is within the attorney general's office, warned the judge that he may be a flight risk.

We mentioned the story of Abdirashid Ismail Said fleeing here when Tim Walz tried to take credit for federal raids on Minnesota businesses. This isn't the first time a Somali fraudster got a slap on the wrist, either. In April, we told you about several such instances, including Zamzam Jama, who stole $5.6 million and got one year behind bars, and in November, a Hennepin County Judge threw out a guilty verdict against fraudster Abdifatah Yusuf, who stole $7.2 million from taxpayers. Despite the jury hearing overwhelming evidence, Judge Sarah West said the state's case relied "heavily on circumstantial evidence" and that the state did not "exclude other reasonable, rational inferences."

This is the only explanation for it.

Right.

Remember, Hennepin County Mary Moriarty issued arrest warrants for ICE agents not too long ago. So they're going to try to throw some people in prison. Just not the Somali fraudsters.

Hard to argue he's not.

Neither should the people of Minnesota, some of whom did not vote for this insanity.