Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis on Friday and announced the indictment of two Minnesota women in a $46.6 million Medicaid fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say exploited programs designed to help children with autism.
The Department of Justice charged Shamso Ahmed Hassan, 55, and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf, 25, with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, money laundering, and multiple counts of healthcare fraud in connection with Minnesota Medicaid's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention Program. The indictment is part of a wider DOJ enforcement action that swept up 15 alleged fraudsters across schemes targeting more than $90 million in taxpayer funds, Fox News reported.
Kennedy did not mince words at the news conference.
"Today's arrests represent the largest autism fraud bust in American history. This was not a paperwork error. It was not a technical violation. This was organized theft that exploited the most vulnerable children in America, deceived families, stole taxpayer dollars meant to help children with autism access legitimate care and support."
The scope of the alleged theft, and the brazenness of the scheme described in the indictment, should trouble every taxpayer who funds Medicaid, and every parent navigating the already difficult world of autism services.
Prosecutors laid out a straightforward fraud pipeline. Hassan held an ownership stake in two businesses, Smart Therapy Center and Star Autism Center, but did not disclose that ownership to the Minnesota Department of Human Services as required by law. Yusuf worked at Smart Therapy Center and helped run its operations, including submitting claims for Medicaid reimbursement.
The pair allegedly paid kickbacks to families to incentivize them to send their children to the two centers. Once enrolled, the businesses billed Medicaid for services that were either never provided or were not eligible for Medicaid reimbursement. Of the $46.6 million submitted for reimbursement, $21.6 million was actually paid out, money the DOJ is now seeking to recover.
The indictment states that Hassan and Yusuf "diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars of the fraud proceeds" for personal use, including real property purchases and overseas wire transfers, including to Kenya.
Kennedy, who has made overhauling federal health policy a centerpiece of his tenure at HHS, framed the fraud as an attack on families already struggling to get help for their children.
"Every fraudulent autism diagnosis steals time, care, and resources from the children for whom this program was designed and who desperately need this care. Families with autistic children already face enormous challenges navigating therapies, specialists, and support systems. Fraud makes those barriers even steeper."
Hassan faces one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, one count of money laundering, and two counts of healthcare fraud. Yusuf faces the same conspiracy and money laundering charges plus five counts of healthcare fraud.
Neither defendant's plea status nor any public statement from them or their attorneys appeared in the available reporting. The indictment does not specify the exact dates the alleged scheme began and ended.
The DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, coordinated the broader action. McDonald joined Kennedy at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota on May 21, 2026, to announce the enforcement sweep. The wider action brought charges against 15 individuals for fraud targeting seven Medicaid programs and more than $90 million in taxpayer dollars.
Kennedy's willingness to personally appear at a fraud prosecution announcement in Minneapolis signals the priority the administration places on Medicaid integrity. HHS secretaries do not typically fly to regional courthouses to hold press conferences about indictments. The decision to do so here, and to brand it the "largest autism fraud bust in American history", was plainly deliberate.
Minnesota's EIDBI program was created to fund intensive behavioral therapy for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The program relies on provider self-reporting and claims submissions, a structure that, as this case illustrates, can be gamed when oversight is weak.
The indictment describes a scheme in which kickbacks drew families into the pipeline, fraudulent claims generated revenue, and proceeds flowed out of the country. That pattern, pay to recruit, bill for phantom services, move the money, is a familiar template in Medicaid fraud. The scale here, however, is extraordinary.
Former DHS deputy assistant secretary Jonathan Fahey, in a Fox News interview, described the $90 million enforcement action as likely "just the tip of the iceberg," with more revelations expected from cooperating defendants. Fahey also raised the question of why Democrats previously ignored these programs, suggesting the inaction was politically motivated.
That question deserves an answer. Minnesota's Medicaid system processed $46.6 million in claims from two therapy centers allegedly running a kickback-and-phantom-billing operation. The Minnesota Department of Human Services, which was supposed to receive ownership disclosures from providers like Hassan, apparently did not catch the omission, or at least did not stop the money from flowing.
Kennedy has been a polarizing figure since taking the helm at HHS, drawing criticism from the left on issues ranging from federal food guidelines to his reshuffling of a federal preventive health task force. But on the question of whether someone should be aggressively pursuing Medicaid fraud that siphons money from disabled children, the answer is not complicated.
Several important questions remain open. Were Hassan and Yusuf arrested on Friday, and if so, where? What is the current operating status of Smart Therapy Center and Star Autism Center? Are the children who were enrolled in those programs now receiving legitimate care elsewhere?
The indictment's reference to funds transferred to Kenya raises additional questions about the full scope of the money trail. The DOJ says it is seeking restitution for $21.6 million paid out, but tracing and recovering assets moved overseas is notoriously difficult.
It also remains to be seen how many of the 15 individuals charged in the broader sweep will cooperate with prosecutors, and whether those cooperating defendants will lead investigators to additional fraud networks. Fahey's suggestion that more is coming is not hard to believe, given the size of the Medicaid system and the relatively light oversight infrastructure surrounding provider claims.
Kennedy's broader public profile ensures that this announcement will receive more attention than the average fraud prosecution. Whether that attention translates into systemic reform, tighter provider verification, real-time claims auditing, mandatory ownership disclosure enforcement, will determine whether this bust is a one-time headline or the start of something more durable.
Lost in the dollar figures are the families. Parents of children with autism depend on programs like EIDBI to access therapies that can reshape a child's development. Every dollar stolen from those programs is a dollar that did not reach a child who needed it. Every fraudulent diagnosis muddied the data that policymakers use to allocate resources.
Kennedy was right to name that harm directly. The fraud described in this indictment was not a victimless financial crime. It was a scheme that, if the allegations hold, used children's names and diagnoses as billing instruments while delivering nothing in return.
The DOJ now has the burden of proving its case. The defendants are entitled to their day in court. But the facts alleged in this indictment, $46.6 million in claims, kickbacks to families, phantom services, undisclosed ownership, and money wired overseas, paint a picture of a system that was exploited methodically and at enormous scale.
When a program built to help autistic children becomes a vehicle for organized fraud, the failure belongs to everyone who looked the other way while the claims kept getting paid.
