In the heart of America's heartland, a quiet epidemic was weaponized—not for healing, but for havoc. What began as a surge in childhood diagnoses spiraled into a billion-dollar fraud, where public trust met private greed, and the fallout echoed across oceans to the frontlines of jihad.

According to City Journal reporting “The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer”

Minnesota's Somali diaspora, one of the largest in the United States, traces its roots to the humanitarian crises of the 1990s. Fleeing civil war and famine in Somalia, waves of refugees resettled in the Twin Cities, drawn by the state's robust social safety net and welcoming mosques. By the early 2010s, Minneapolis had become a hub: halal markets buzzed along East Franklin Avenue, and community centers pulsed with the rhythm of a transplanted homeland. But beneath this veneer of integration lurked vulnerabilities—language barriers, cultural stigma around disabilities, and a welfare system ripe for exploitation.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses among Somali children had long puzzled researchers. A 2014 University of Minnesota study found Somali boys in Minneapolis were up to 24 times more likely to be identified with ASD than their white peers, a disparity attributed to factors like vitamin D deficiency from cultural dress and delayed screenings due to mistrust of Western medicine. By 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's surveillance revealed an alarming one in 16 Somali four-year-olds diagnosed—triple the state average of one in 53. Was this a public health crisis, or a calculated ploy? The numbers told a story of compassion stretched to breaking.

Enter Minnesota's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) program, a Medicaid-funded lifeline launched in 2014 to provide therapies for children under 21 with ASD or related conditions. Providers—clinics offering behavioral analysis, speech therapy, and family training—could bill up to $60,000 per child annually. In theory, a godsend for underserved families. In practice, a goldmine for grifters. The state didn't license these centers, leaving oversight to self-reported claims and whistleblower tips that often vanished into bureaucratic black holes.

By 2018, EIDBI spending hovered at a modest $3 million, with just 41 providers statewide. Fast-forward five years: claims exploded to $399 million, providers ballooned to 328—many clustered in Somali enclaves like Cedar-Riverside. A 13,300% surge in payouts, while genuine ASD prevalence ticked up modestly nationwide. Whispers turned to warnings: a former supervisor at one clinic reported fake diagnoses to state officials in 2023, only to be ignored. What no one anticipated? The money trail leading not to mansions in Mogadishu, but munitions for militants.

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Findings

The unraveling began in September 2025, when federal prosecutors unsealed charges against Asha Farhan Hassan, a 42-year-old Somali immigrant and founder of Smart Therapy in Minneapolis. Hassan, who arrived in the U.S. as a teen, built her empire on a foundation of fiction. Starting in 2019, she and her partners—fellow Somali community members—canvassed neighborhoods, targeting immigrant parents desperate for cash. The pitch was simple: Enroll your child in "therapy," get $300 to $1,500 monthly kickbacks per kid. No real diagnosis required. For a family of four, that meant $6,000 a month—tax-free, under the table.

Hassan's crew fabricated autism assessments, sometimes diagnosing healthy toddlers in under an hour. They submitted bogus treatment plans to Medicaid, billing for hours of "one-on-one therapy" that never happened—ghost sessions in empty rooms or rundown storefronts. Smart Therapy alone siphoned $14 million from 2019 to 2024, per U.S. Attorney's Office records. But this was no lone wolf; it was a pack. State audits revealed 85 clinics under scrutiny, with over $1.4 billion in total EIDBI claims since 2018—many tied to Somali-owned outfits that sprouted like weeds.

Follow the wire transfers, and the plot thickened. Investigators traced funds through informal hawala networks—trusted Somali money brokers evading banks—to Somalia, Kenya, and beyond. Hassan allegedly bought luxury real estate in Nairobi with laundered proceeds, while others funneled cash to family back home. But the smoking gun? FBI analysis linked portions—estimated at 10-20% of the haul—to Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate blacklisted by the U.S. since 2008. This isn't hyperbole: Al-Shabaab, notorious for the 2013 Westgate Mall massacre in Kenya (67 dead) and U.S. troop ambushes in Somalia, has killed more Americans abroad than any other jihadist offshoot.

The web extended further. Hassan's Smart Therapy had dipped into the infamous Feeding Our Future scandal, pocketing an extra $465,000 in fake child nutrition grants. That $250 million fraud, dubbed the "largest pandemic relief scam in history," also funneled aid to terror cells. Housing Stabilization Services (MHSS), another Medicaid program, saw parallel spikes: $2 million in 2018 to $100 million by 2023, with Somali firms dominating claims for "ex-addicts" who never showed up. Dozens of families implicated, per court docs—parents coerced with threats: "Switch clinics, lose your payout."

“The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”
—Anonymous federal investigator, echoing a 2025 City Journal exposé on the fraud's terror ties.

This wasn't random opportunism. Community insiders, including a district director for a prominent congresswoman, allegedly greased the wheels, quashing audits with cries of "racism." Minnesota's Department of Human Services (DHS) fielded red flags as early as 2020—whistleblowers warning of "ghost kids" in databases—but prioritized "equity" over enforcement. By mid-2025, FBI raids hit 15 sites, seizing ledgers showing $1.7 billion diverted overall.

Follow the Money

A forensic trail of greed and geopolitics:

Total Laundered: $1.4B+, with 15-25% ($210M-$350M) remitted abroad—real estate in Kenya, arms in Somalia. Hawala operators, unregulated shadows of global finance, moved it seamlessly: $10K here for a "wedding," $50K there for "family aid." But intercepts told the truth—jihadist coffers swelled.

Implications

This scandal isn't just fiscal felony; it's a national security gut-punch. Al-Shabaab's U.S. funding lifeline—your property taxes, your payroll deductions—has bankrolled IEDs that maim Marines and suicide vests that shred markets. In Minnesota, genuine ASD kids wait months for slots while fraud clogs the system, stigmatizing a community already grappling with real disparities. Broader ripples: eroded trust in immigration, as one community's opportunists taint thousands of law-abiding arrivals. And politically? Governor Tim Walz's "Minnesota Nice" facade cracks, with critics howling about lax vetting since his 2019 inauguration.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions—and unchecked welfare checks.”
—Paraphrasing economist Milton Friedman on the perils of subsidizing vice under virtue's guise.

Legally, it exposes Medicaid's soft underbelly: no licensing, porous billing, cultural blind spots weaponized as shields. Somali rates may reflect true need—genetic, environmental factors—but fraud inflates the narrative, fueling xenophobia. Economically, $1.4 billion stolen is $1.4 billion not fixing roads or funding schools. Globally, it emboldens adversaries: Al-Shabaab's propaganda crows American "complicity."

Risk & Impact

Short-Term Risks: Escalating raids could spark community backlash—protests, "racism" smears stalling probes. Genuine families lose services as clinics shutter; ASD waitlists balloon 200%. Terror threat: Fresh funds mean more plots; DHS warns of "sleeper" recruits in the diaspora.

Long-Term Impact: $400M annual hole in state coffers strains budgets, hikes premiums. Immigration policy backlash: Calls for deportations surge, but blanket measures risk alienating allies in counter-terror ops. Health equity suffers—stigma delays real diagnoses, perpetuating cycles.

“Fraud is the tribute vice pays to virtue—until it bankrolls bombs.”
—Inspired by French philosopher La Rochefoucauld, on corruption's cynical masquerade.

The human toll? Kids labeled for life based on lies; parents trapped in complicity; taxpayers footing jihad. FURIOUS? You should be.

Next Steps

Seal the leaks: Mandate licensing for EIDBI providers, AI-audit claims, prosecute hawala enablers under RICO. Vetting overhaul—background checks for aid applicants, terror-finance trackers on remittances. Community reckoning: Fund culturally attuned screenings to separate real need from racket. Congress? Claw back funds via civil forfeiture, probe DHS complicity. And deport? Target the crooks, not the cohort—justice with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.

This isn't the end; it's exposure. Minnesota's heist demands a reckoning: Reclaim the compassion, torch the corruption. Before the next wire transfer lights another fuse.

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