A bombshell new report has exposed “clusters” of fraudulent Somali-owned operations posing as home healthcare companies that are being run from buildings filled with empty offices.
A reporter for NewsNation has traveled to Maine and uncovered troubling signs of widespread taxpayer fraud in the state.
The findings echo the massive Somali-linked fraud schemes already exposed in Minnesota.
During the investigation, the reporter highlighted a single office building in Portland that houses a “cluster” of ghost healthcare companies.
The building is listed as the business address for ten separate home healthcare companies.
However, the building’s landlord said he rarely sees anyone from most of the businesses operating there.
“One guy I see coming and going, and the rest of them, I never see them, only when they pay their rent, if I’m here when they pay their rent,” said landlord Ron Nevins, who owns the building.
“They’re never here,” Nevins continued.
“Nobody’s over here.
“And then all of a sudden, if it was one or two or three or four, I’d be like, ‘OK.’
“But when there’s 10, I’ve had as many as 12 or 13 probably before.
“You just wonder, what’s up with this healthcare thing?
“Why are so many people doing it all from foreign lands?”
According to the NewsNation report, office buildings across Maine are increasingly packed with home healthcare companies that show little to no physical activity.
It’s a pattern that closely mirrors fraud indicators previously identified by the House Oversight Committee during its investigation into Minnesota’s multi-billion-dollar daycare and healthcare fraud scandals.
In some cases, the Maine companies have already been caught overbilling the state before disappearing entirely.
One tenant in Nevins’ building, Five Star Home Health Care, overbilled MaineCare by nearly $400,000, according to state audit documents obtained by The Maine Wire.
After the overbilling was flagged, the company abandoned the office, the report said.
The NewsNation reporter also interviewed a local newspaper journalist who pointed out other addresses around the state that are similarly listed as home healthcare providers, despite appearing inactive.
Several of those locations were found to be situated next to businesses offering money transfer services capable of wiring funds overseas, including to Somalia.
WATCH:
Last week, Maine’s Democrat Governor Janet Mills finally said she supports a full investigation into misuse of taxpayer dollars, ending weeks of silence on the issue.
The findings have drawn renewed attention to similarities with the Minnesota fraud schemes.
In Minnesota, Somali-run shell companies billed taxpayers for services that were never provided, resulting in billions of dollars in losses.
As investigations continue to expand beyond Minnesota, the Maine discoveries raise fresh questions about whether similar coordinated fraud networks may be operating in other states.
Meanwhile, those that have yet to be caught continue quietly billing public healthcare programs from empty offices.
READ MORE – Minnesota Democrats Refuse to Give Up Donations Linked to Somali Fraud
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