Second Dem-run state hit by accusations of widespread Somali fraud… with woke lawmaker giving vile answer to voter who asked him about it

A second Democrat-run state has been hit by accusations of fraud within the Somali community, prompting a vile response from one lawmaker who was quizzed about it by a constituent.

As Minnesota grapples with one of the biggest fraud scandals in US history, a whistleblower in Maine has now stepped forward alleging state taxpayers have been defrauded out of funds meant for social services.

Christopher Bernardini told NewsNation he worked as a ‘billing guru’ for Portland-based Gateway Community Services for seven years until April 2025 – while they were allegedly defrauding Maine’s Medicaid program.

The company’s founder and CEO, Abdullahi Ali, is a Somali-American who ran for president of Jubaland, a state in Somalia, last year while juggling his role as executive director.

He came under fire at the time amid reports from The Maine Wire that he had boasted of funding the militia to ‘help the troops buy weapons, bullets and food’ while he was in America.

The comments sparked concerns about whether any of the $28.8million in payments his LLC received via MaineCare had been misappropriated.

The Daily Mail has contacted Gateway Community Services for comment.

Ali wrote on X: ‘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.

‘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 proud Somali-American.’

Christopher Bernardini said he worked as a ‘billing guru’ for Gateway Community Services for seven years until April 2025 – where they were defrauding Maine’s Medicaid program

Councilor Wes Pelletier, who represents Portland’s District 2 in Maine, addressed what he described as ‘dehumanizing and racist attacks against Somali Americans’ in an Instagram post on Tuesday

Bernardini’s allegations have sparked outrage in the community and prompted calls for a thorough investigation among Republicans, particularly against the backdrop of fraud discovered in Minnesota.

An estimated $300million was stolen from a single federal meals program, but prosecutors believe the real total across multiple schemes could top $1billion.

Councilor Wes Pelletier, who represents Portland’s District 2 in Maine, addressed what he described as ‘dehumanizing and racist attacks against Somali Americans’ in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

His post came just days after President Trump unleashed a tirade against Somali immigrants, calling them ‘garbage’ who had ‘ripped off’ the state.

Pelletier wrote: ‘Rally behind our Somali community! Our community is hurting after the racist and dehumanizing attacks against Somali Americans.

‘This moment demands courage, solidarity and love. We refuse to be silent. We refuse to allow hate to define who we are.’

But when a voter responded to his post asking whether he was ‘concerned about all the corruption in the Somali community that has been revealed lately’, Pelletier offered a vile response.

‘lol hey man… shut the f**k up. please,’ he wrote.

The crisis in Minnesota has reached fever pitch this week after Matt Bryden –⁠ who for four years ran the UN Security Council’s monitoring mission for Somalia and Eritrea –⁠ told the Daily Mail he believes al-Shabaab militants likely skimmed off a slice of cash that was siphoned from Minnesota’s pandemic-era feeding program and wired to the Horn of Africa.

Al-Shabab fighters control swathes of central and southern Somalia

The company’s founder and CEO, Abdullahi Ali, is a Somali-American who ran for president of Jubaland, a state in Somalia, last year while juggling his role as executive director

‘Al-Shabaab taxes everything it can, including remittance companies,’ said Bryden, now a strategist with the Nairobi-based consultancy Sahan. ‘Where the money comes from or who receives it is incidental –⁠ it’s the business that is taxed, not the transaction.’

His comments bolster claims from conservative researchers and Republican officials who argue that Minnesota’s Somali-American fraudsters not only plundered their state’s generous welfare system but also fed money into one of the world’s most feared Islamist insurgencies.

More than 50 fraudsters have already been convicted, with dozens more cases in the pipeline. Court filings show that chunks of the stolen cash were sent back to Somalia or used to buy properties across East Africa.

Bernardini said the situation reminded him of what he experienced working at Gateway.

‘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.

‘I just couldn’t fathom it — I thought we were helping people; I thought this was all on the up-and-up.’

He said he grew 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.’

Ahmed Naji Maalim Aftin Sheikh (left) and other alleged members of the Somali-dominated Minnesota fraud ring

Somalis overseas send money back to their homeland using an informal transfer system known as ‘hawala.’ (Pictured: A forex bureau in the Somali capital Mogadishu)

He claimed staff were told to input and charge for services that were never actually performed.

According to the 2023 World Population Review, 2,730 Somali’s live in Maine, and there are three Somali American representatives in the state House – all Democrat.

The trio last Thursday slammed Trump for his ‘hateful remarks’ against the wider community.

‘When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but b****, we don’t want them in our country,’ Trump said.

‘Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.’

Representative Ilhan Omar –⁠ the Somali-born Democratic congresswoman who represents Minneapolis –⁠ slammed Trump for his xenophobia and insisted her community was being smeared.

She said she was ‘pretty confident’ the terrorism link was false, pointing to the prosecutions already under way.

Ilhan Omar –⁠ the Somali-born Democratic congresswoman who represents Minneapolis, on a visit to Somalia in 2022

‘If there was a linkage in the money that they have stolen going to terrorism, then that is a failure of the FBI and our court system in not figuring that out,’ Omar told CBS News.

Research by the conservative City Journal found that ‘untold millions’ of public money was funneled through hawala networks to Somalia and that ‘largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.’

The US Treasury Department on December 1 announced it had opened an investigation into whether US taxpayer dollars ended up in the hands of terrorists.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he wanted to know whether Minnesotans’ money had been diverted to al-Shabaab ‘under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz.’