(NewsNation) — The House Oversight Committee is connecting the dots between a Somali-led community health services contractor and widespread fraud tied to supposed Medicaid payments in Maine that could now have much larger ramifications.
Members of the Oversight Committee have pushed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to release pertinent bank records tied to Gateway Community Financial Services in Maine. The committee had already been investigating potential fraud linked to Somalis in Minnesota.
But now, members of that committee are crediting NewsNation for its reporting on possible Medicaid fraud in Maine that could link the health services contractor to more wrongdoing.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services has already shut off Medicaid payments to Gateway after a whistleblower alerted NewsNation that taxpayers have been bilked out of millions of dollars from Maine’s Medicaid program. The whistleblower, Chris Bernardini, told NewsNation that the state’s Medicaid program was charging residents for services that were never provided.
Audits conducted by state officials between 2015 and 2018 concluded that Gateway overbilled the state by $662,000. In response, the company was issued two notices of violation, and to date, Maine’s Health and Human Services is still attempting to recoup more than $537,000.
Gateway officials denied any wrongdoing that was exposed by NewsNation’s reporting. In a statement issued Friday, the contractor said that it was notified of Maine’s decision to cut off Medicaid payments this week. Gateway officials say they are looking into the allegations, but for now, are standing by their previous statement that they have done nothing wrong.
In the statement, Gateway pledged to cooperate with any oversight committee investigations, which had already identified Gateway founder and CEO Abdullahi Ali as a person of interest. Also named as a person of interest is Maine State Rep. Deqa Dhalac, a Democrat, who is a former assistant executive director with the company.
Neither Ali nor Dhalac responded to NewsNation’s request for comment on the allegations. Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has also not responded to NewsNation’s request for comment.
NewsNation has also requested comment from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services on the matter. That agency also did not immediately respond.
