A lawyer and whistleblower says mass welfare fraud committed by Somalis in the U.S. extends to her home state of Ohio, citing discussions with anonymous providers, Fox News reported Friday.
Attorney Mehek Cooke has heard from Medicaid providers among Ohio’s Somali population that they were pressured into participating in a fraud operation involving funds for fake medical conditions, she told Fox News. The allegations come after federal investigators revealed more than $1 billion in stolen taxpayer funds in Minnesota overwhelmingly tied to its large Somali population, putting the issue in the national spotlight.
Scammers are taking advantage of an Ohio Medicaid policy that allows one to receive thousands of dollars to ostensibly provide medical care to a family member, with doctors cashing on their own funds in return for approving the payments, Cooke said.
“They’re just rubberstamping a lot of these,” Cooke told Fox News. “And then that same individual, a week later, that’s supposed to be bedridden, is all over social media, whether they’re out dancing at a party or something like that. So, the symptoms aren’t really adding up at the end of the day.”