Minnesota’s not the only Democrat-run state that has a problem with Somali swindlers, with a former employee of a Maine-based company blowing the whistle on alleged fraud within the state’s Medicare system.
Whistleblower Christopher Bernardini, who describes himself as a former “billing guru” for Portland-based health services contractor Gateway Community Services, described how the company allegedly bilked taxpayers out of millions of dollars in an interview with NewsNation.
Taxpayers in Maine have been bilked out of millions of dollars from the state’s Medicaid program, according to a whistleblower who in an interview with NewsNation likened the case to a burgeoning scandal in Minnesota, where people in the Somali community are accused of defrauding… pic.twitter.com/JNhnaGEaRz
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) December 9, 2025
Bernardini, who worked as a program coordinator from May 2018 until April 2025, alleged that Gateway “oversaw a system in which false records were filed about client visits. He alleges an electronic monitoring system designed to track movements was manipulated to make it seem like field staff were visiting low-income and disabled clients, when in reality they did not come within miles of the clients’ homes,” according to NewsNation. The taxpayers were then charged for the services that were never performed.
“I just couldn’t fathom it — I thought we were helping people; I thought this was all on the up-and-up,” he said. “I have a passion for helping people, and I thought that we were doing the right thing this whole time.”
The former “billing guru” told the outlet he became disillusioned “when I saw how they were swindling people. When I had clients calling me to tell me their staff hadn’t shown up, and I was told to bill those hours anyway. It just got worse and worse until I started really putting up a stink.”
Adding to the outrage over the scandal, the company’s Somali-American founder and CEO Abdullahi Ali, who recently ran to be president of Jubaland, a state in the notoriously corrupt African country, had previously received criticism for bragging about helping to fund a paramilitary group in the homeland.
A Maine whistleblower tells NewsNation he believes there is fraud in the state’s Medicaid program similar to a recent fraud scandal in Minnesota. NewsNation’s @RichMcHugh is live in Lewiston, Maine, with the latest.
MORE: https://t.co/BDnlMJJmqW pic.twitter.com/RchL3G9CHD
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) December 10, 2025
In March, the Maine Wire reported on Ali’s remarks from an interview with Kenyan media in which he boasted of arming the Jubaland militia at the same time he was serving as Gateway’s executive director.
“When I was in the U.S., I contributed to the financial support for the Jubaland-Somali army. To help the troops buy weapons, bullets, and food,” he said, according to the investigative reporting outlet. “I helped pay my share of the fund.”
“I make no apologies for building a successful business in Maine, working hard to earn a living, earning my PhD, giving back to my Maine community, and running for office in Jubaland,” Ali wrote on X before locking down who could view his account. “I am proud to contribute my hard-earned $ to support my people back home. America is a nation of laws—you cannot change facts by fabricating false stories. I am a proud Somali-American.”
(Screenshot: YouTube/NewsNation)
But when asked about the allegations, one Portland City Council member wasn’t only dismissive, but dropped an f-bomb on a voter who brought it up on a Tuesday Instagram post where Councilor Wes Pelletier, who represents District 2, was rallying support for the Somali community.
‘Rally behind our Somali community! Our community is hurting after the racist and dehumanizing attacks against Somali Americans,” he wrote. “This moment demands courage, solidarity, and love. We refuse to be silent. We refuse to allow hate to define who we are.”
When a voter responded with a question about whether the elected official was “concerned about all the corruption in the Somali community that has been revealed lately”, Pelletier shot back with a vulgar response.
He wrote, “lol hey man… shut the f**k up. please,” according to the Daily Mail. Pelletier was endorsed by the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) last year.
President Donald J. Trump recently called Minnesota “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and branded many Somalis as constantly complaining, ungrateful “garbage” who should “go back to where they came from and fix it.”
Republican Maine State Senator Matt Harrington is demanding that Democrat Gov. Janet Mills investigate the allegations.
“To add insult to injury, the founder of Gateway Community Services has openly said that he has funneled money into Somali elections and paramilitary groups,” he told NewsNation. “And it’s just an absolute slap in the face to every Maine taxpayer that these funds that could be used to help Maine people, Maine veterans, Maine senior citizens, Maine families who are struggling are being funneled to Somalia directly.”
“I’ve been waiting patiently for this to blow up, and I knew it would eventually,” Bernardini said. “I only wish I would have spoken up sooner.”
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