Maine officials have suspended state Medicaid payments to a Somali-run charity after multiple audits of the charity's services uncovered more than $1 million in possible fraud.
Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) canceled MaineCare payments to Gateway Community Services after audits showed the charity billed the state $1,068,598 from March 2021 to December 2022. The money was supposed to cover the cost of “interpretation services” for Somali migrants. Bangor Daily News reported.
The same organization was already under investigation. Gateway reportedly overbilled more than $600,000 between 2015 and 2018 and remains under suspicion for other violations discovered in a third government audit completed in 2024.
The suspension of funding occurred at the end red flags Outraged over the charitable activities of U.S. Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, who warned the U.S. Treasury about welfare fraud being perpetrated by Gateway.
Gateway was founded in 2015 by Somali migrant Abdullahi Ali, who has become the target of intense scrutiny launch In 2024, he ran for president of Jubaland, an autonomous region in southern Somalia, while his charity, Gateway Services, defrauded the government of millions for misinvoiced services.
However, Gateway is not only staffed and run by Somali migrants. The agency also has ties to a number of prominent Maine Democrats, including Democratic state Sen. Chloe Maxmin and Democratic strategists Joan D'Arcangelo and B.J. McCollister, the latter of whom worked on Joe Biden's 2020 White House campaign and served as chief of staff to Maine Senate President Troy Jackson.
Maine Senate Assistant Minority Leader Matt Harrington, a Republican, has been raising concerns about Gateway and other possible MaineCare scams since May.
“This is taxpayer money and we need to get to the bottom of this, and I'm glad the federal government has finally stepped in, I think in large part because of the inaction of Maine leaders,” Harrington said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.HustonTruth Social @WarnerToddHustonor on X/Twitter @WTHuston
