Golden Valley, Minnesota

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced charges against two men accused of stealing more than $1.5 million from the state's Medicaid program. Salman Ahmed Elmi, who previously received an "Outstanding Refugee Award for Entrepreneurship" from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, faces eight felony theft counts tied to his company, Reva Health, which allegedly billed over $1,000,000 for mental health services that were never provided, ineligible for reimbursement, or delivered by unqualified providers with little to no supervision. Prosecutors say Elmi and co-conspirators fabricated documents and paid recipients illegal kickbacks to use their information for false claims. Some alleged co-conspirators reportedly have ties to a recent sex trafficking ring bust.

In a separate case, Mohamed Haji Rashid faces nine felony theft charges over more than $300,000 in improper Medicaid billing. The charges come amid heightened federal scrutiny of Medicaid fraud, after the Department of Health and Human Services deferred over $1 billion in payments to Minnesota and California in July.