Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced today that a federal Grand Jury sitting in Portland handed down an indictment charging Abdirashid Ahmed, 38, of Lewiston and Garat Osman, 32, of Auburn, with health care fraud involving the MaineCare program and soliciting and receiving health care kickbacks from May 2015 through December 2017.
According to the indictment, Ahmed solicited kickbacks from a MaineCare provider in exchange for referring beneficiaries to the provider. Ahmed and Osman then allegedly brought beneficiaries to the provider and served as Somali interpreters during the visits. The indictment recites that fraudulent bills were submitted to MaineCare that overstated the health and interpreter service provided and MaineCare reimbursed the provider based upon the fraudulent billing. And, according to the charges, the provider then paid Ahmed and Osman the monies that MaineCare paid on the fraudulent interpreter claims.
If convicted, each person faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, each person may also be ordered to pay restitution to MaineCare.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and the State of Maine Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Crime Unit.
Both defendants were arrested this morning and are expected to make initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Portland later today.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
