The federal crackdown on Medicaid fraud that produced a $90 million takedown in Minnesota last month reached Ohio this week. On June 3, a House Oversight task force opened its first hearing on what Chairman Brandon Gill (R-TX) called $1.2 billion stolen from Ohio’s Medicaid system by foreign fraudsters. The next day, the Justice Department charged nine defendants across multiple schemes totaling more than $42 million and announced new national enforcement infrastructure built around the Ohio model.
Ohio’s fraud problem mirrors Minnesota’s in structure but adds a second community the Minnesota charges did not involve. Gill told the hearing that Ohio hosts the second-largest Somali population in America, estimated at 60,000, second only to Minnesota. Ohio also hosts the largest Bhutanese immigrant population in the country. Gill stated in his prepared remarks that both communities account for a large portion — if not the vast majority — of home health Medicaid fraud in the state, citing investigative reporting by Luke Rosiak at the Daily Wire.
The mechanism is straightforward. Ohio expanded its Medicaid program through Home and Community-Based Services waivers that allow states to fund personal care — cooking, cleaning, companionship — outside of hospitals. Fraudsters identify elderly Ohioans who qualify for the care, obtain physician documentation of need, then contract with home health businesses that submit Medicaid billing on their behalf and take a cut. In many cases, family members bill for alleged services rendered to their own relatives. Billboards in Columbus advertise that residents can “get paid” for “caring for a loved one at home.” The services are frequently never provided.
The physical footprint of the scheme is concentrated. A single building at 6161 Busch Boulevard in Columbus houses 94 separate companies that recently billed Medicaid $66 million. Many of the businesses share addresses, use nearly identical names — Capital Home Health, Continental Home Health, Dynamic Home Healthcare — operate out of largely abandoned or windowless buildings, charge identical rates, do not advertise, and offer no clear explanation of how they acquired large patient rosters, often seemingly overnight.
The DOJ charges filed June 4 span three categories of fraud across two federal districts and one state court. In the Southern District of Ohio, four defendants were charged in connection with a behavioral health scheme exceeding $30 million. Two owned and operated organizations that billed Medicaid for therapeutic services and psychotherapy delivered to children in summer camps, church groups, and recreational programs — services prosecutors allege were medically unnecessary and never provided. When one company lost its state credentialing and could no longer submit claims, the defendants allegedly routed billing through a separate entity to continue the scheme. Federal agents seized three bank accounts holding $469,000 and 14 vehicles worth $800,000, including six Mercedes-Benz, a Bentley, a BMW, a Jaguar, a Maserati, two Land Rovers, and a McLaren.
In Butler County, Robert Haley, 63, of Cincinnati, was charged by indictment with more than $12 million in fraudulent Medicaid billing for children’s after-school therapeutic programs. Prosecutors allege Haley filed more than 60,000 false Medicaid claims for services that were not provided. The case is being prosecuted by Ohio’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
A separate Southern District case charged four defendants in a $1.4 million scheme to obtain fraudulent COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loans by submitting false income documentation and misusing proceeds on personal expenses.
In the Northern District, three defendants were detained in connection with a $15 million romance fraud ring operating from Ghana. Jamal Abubakari, 22; Kamal Abubakari, 22; and Amanda Joy Opoku-Boachie, 53, were detained after prosecutors alleged that from July 2024 to April 2026 the operation targeted more than 130 elderly Americans on dating websites and social media. The defendants used artificial intelligence-driven video platforms to construct fictitious female personas. Victims transferred money by wire to accounts controlled by the ring, which then moved funds to co-conspirators in Ghana. Two additional defendants, Frederick Kumi and Daniel Yussif, are awaiting extradition. Assets seized in Ghana included a Lamborghini, a Tesla Cybertruck, a Mercedes-Benz, and a BMW, estimated at more than $3 million.
The June 4 announcement also introduced new enforcement infrastructure DOJ said it intends to replicate nationwide. The Fraud Division and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose signed a data-sharing agreement giving federal prosecutors access to corporate registrant data to track ownership links between clinics, labs, and billing entities used to obscure control over fraud networks. The Ohio Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit committed to cross-designate prosecutors to DOJ strike forces, coordinate monthly with federal partners on new investigations, and participate in national enforcement initiatives. The FBI simultaneously launched a “Most Wanted Fraudsters” list modeled on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives program.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the announcement: “Ohio is leading the charge in the fight against fraud, and some states should take notice.” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said the Fraud Division is building “a replicable model to combat the full range of fraudsters.”
That model first appeared in Minnesota. HCA reported May 25 that federal prosecutors charged 15 defendants in $90 million in Minnesota Medicaid schemes on May 21, the same day Aimee Bock, founder of Feeding Our Future, was sentenced to 41.5 years for the nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud — $250 million stolen from federal child nutrition programs. McDonald told reporters in Minneapolis: “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Ohio state government has responded in parallel. Gov. Mike DeWine imposed a six-month moratorium on new home health Medicaid providers in May. The Ohio Auditor documented $209 million in Medicaid payments for patients enrolled simultaneously in Ohio and another state. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, who had named Ohio as one of five states under active federal scrutiny, said the Ohio actions demonstrate that “the days of fraudsters hiding behind shell companies, complex billing schemes, and other silos are coming to an end.”
Gill closed his June 3 statement noting that the Electronic Visit Verification system — including its GPS tracking function — was not properly utilized in Ohio, meaning in many cases no record exists confirming whether billed home health services were ever delivered.
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