St. Paul man facing charges for $1.4 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims

The manager of a Minneapolis personal care home service company was charged for a Medicaid fraud scheme that garnered more than $1.4 million in illicit funds over the last few years, according to a criminal complaint released Tuesday.

Abdul Abdishakur of St. Paul is facing six counts of theft by false representation for  fraudulent claims made to the Minnesota Department of Human Services--which oversees the state's Medicaid program--through his company, Wallingburg Home Care Services

Through Wallinburg Abdishakur allegedly over-billed Medicaid for at least five of his clients, submitting claims for services that did not occur, oftentimes administered by employees that did not have proper documentation, or did not exist at all. He also reportedly provided routine kickbacks to both his clients and some of the providers.

According to investigators, 87 percent of his claims for a two-year period between January 2013 and August 2015--totaling more than $1.2 million--did not have any documentation, with 73 percent of his employees' timesheets missing information as well.

Medicaid also requires that 72.5 percent of funds dispersed for personal care must be paid to providers, though officials said Abdishakur kept more than 66 percent of that money for himself. Investigators crunched the numbers and found he was reportedly paying his employees an average of $4.71 an hour, well below the $10.53 minimum wage required.

In total, Wallingburg allegedly bilked DHS for $1,421,788.07, while Abdishakur faces 20 years in prison and $100,000 in fines for what investigators say was his part in the scheme.