A Minnesota judge is now being investigated after overturning a massive $7.2 million fraud conviction of a couple who were found guilty of stealing Medicaid money to fund “lavish lifestyle” replete with lots of fancy clothes and expensive cars. Abdifatah Yusuf, 44, was charged and found guilty in August 2025 after he and his blushing bride were accused of siphoning off millions from the Minnesota Medicaid program through a healthcare business they ran out of their home.
Yusuf was initially found guilty of six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle by a jury. However, the conviction was overturned by Judge Sarah West in mid-November. West was appointed to the bench by former Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in 2018. Explaining her decision to overturn the conviction, West said the case “relied heavily on circumstantial evidence” adding that the state wasn’t able to rule out other potential “reasonable interference.”
And yet, despite her choice to throw out the conviction, West claims she’s still “troubled by the manner in which fraud was able to be perpetuated” through the couple’s business. Yusuf and his wife, Lul Ahmed, 41, operated the healthcare business for “years out of a mailbox,” however, the husband was taking Medicaid money on the sly in order to pay for the couple’s upscale living.
According to the New York Post, the couple would take the funds they stole and cut loose at “luxury clothing stores” such as Coach and Nike, spending the money with reckless abandon. Residents of Minnesota, especially those who served on the jury in the case, were disgusted by West’s ruling to overturn the couple’s convictions.
“It was not a difficult decision whatsoever. The deliberation took probably four hours at most. Based off of the state’s evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt,” former juryman Ben Walfoort said. The attorney representing Yusuf said that West’s decision is affirmation that the case brought against his client was bogus.
Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed an appeal challenging West’s ruling. “Stealing money meant for poor people’s healthcare and using it to buy luxury cars and designer clothes is as shameful and disgraceful as it gets. Minnesotans believe in helping our neighbors, but we have no patience for fraudsters like Abdifatah Yusuf who abuse that generosity to enrich themselves,” Ellison went on to say after Yusuf was convicted over the summer.
This isn’t the only large fraud scheme in Minnesota currently under investigation. Feeding Our Futures is also the subject of a probe due to millions of dollars being embezzled from funds that were initially set up to help alleviate suffering during the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdown.