A new whistleblower has come forward with alarming claims that the Somali welfare fraud scandal exposed in Minnesota may be far more widespread than previously believed, extending deep into Ohio and beyond.
Attorney Mehek Cooke, an Ohio legal and policy expert, says similar schemes involving Somali fraudsters are now operating through home-health and Medicaid programs, siphoning off staggering sums of taxpayer money while state officials look the other way.
Her warning arrives on the heels of independent journalist Nick Shirley’s viral exposé documenting alleged fraud tied to Somali-run daycare operations in Minnesota.
The facilities are reportedly receiving millions in public funds while appearing empty or inactive.
Shirley’s full 42-minute investigation quickly went viral after he wrote:
“We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day.
“Like it and share it around like wildfire!”
WATCH:
Now, Cooke says the same pattern is unfolding in Ohio, only this time through home-health reimbursement loopholes that allow self-reported caretaking arrangements to be billed at extraordinary levels.
Speaking to Breitbart News, Cooke described a fraud model in which individuals claim to provide round-the-clock home-health care for aging family members, while some patients do not actually require full-time medical care.
“We’re watching providers rubber-stamp paperwork for home health,” Cooke explains.
“So, in Ohio and other states like Pennsylvania, you can go in and say, ‘My aging parent needs home health care, and I want to provide it.’
“The state will, as long as the doctor has approved it, continue to pay you.
“It could be for 10 hours, 12 hours, up to 24 when it’s critical care.
“So you could sit at home without caring for an elderly parent who really doesn’t need it, make about $75,000 to $90,000 a year.
“Now you add two parents, that’s $180,000.
“Now you add your in-laws $250,000,” she notes.
“You continue to add this, and you wonder what are the services being provided?
“So a lot of providers came and said fraud is occurring because we said we weren’t going to rubber-stamp this paperwork.
“So they went to other providers, their home health care networks, saying ‘We’ll make it worth your while.’
“Well, sounds like a kickback to me,” Cooke asserts.
“So we really need to investigate the Medicaid system and how much it’s increased since the Somali population came, and who really needs critical care because that’s meant for our disabled, our elderly, and people who really need it, not to just live off our system.
“And that’s what’s happening in Ohio. I think it’s ridiculous.
“I think it’s despicable, but authorities are now looking at it from the Attorney General’s office to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“I flagged them all because this is Ohio tax dollars, and we have to take it seriously.
“I’m tired of people telling me, ‘well, this is the way it’s always been. It’s subjective and we can’t really check.’ No, you can.”
Cooke says providers who initially refused to sign off on questionable claims were bypassed, with applicants allegedly seeking out networks willing to approve the paperwork in exchange for an implied financial benefit.
The arrangement, she argued, functions as a shadow kickback pipeline, enriching participants under the guise of elder-care reimbursements that were originally intended for the truly vulnerable.
She also says the problem is not limited to Ohio, warning that similar activity is occurring in Pennsylvania and potentially other states.
Despite Ohio being a Republican-governed state, Cooke suggests officials have failed to get ahead of the abuse, allowing the system to expand unchecked even as costs balloon.
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Her statements raise a critical question for state leaders:
If this level of alleged fraud is taking root in Minnesota and now Ohio, how many other states are quietly facing the same exploitation of Medicaid and taxpayer-funded home-health programs?
For Cooke, the time for political hesitation has passed.
She says federal and state law enforcement agencies are now reviewing the matter, but warns that accountability must follow.
With billions of public dollars already under scrutiny nationwide, the unfolding Somali fraud scandal may be evolving into one of the largest welfare-abuse investigations in modern U.S. history, and Ohio officials may soon find themselves under intense pressure to explain how it was allowed to happen on their watch.
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