United States v. Mohamed

The Information charges Habiba Mohamed, a beneficial owner and Clinical Director of Smart Therapy Center LLC, an EIDBI provider agency enrolled in the Minnesota Medicaid program, with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 371. The alleged conspiracy ran from approximately September 2022 through September 2024 and involved co-conspirators Asha Farhan Hassan and Shamso Ahmed Hassan, each holding a 35% ownership interest in Smart Therapy, along with at least one additional unnamed individual. The Information alleges that Smart Therapy paid illegal cash kickbacks of approximately $300 to $1,500 per child per month to parents of Medicaid-eligible children in exchange for enrolling those children at Smart Therapy so that Smart Therapy could bill Minnesota DHS for EIDBI services. The Information alleges the conspirators concealed these payments by writing checks to family members and employees, directing those individuals to cash the checks and deliver the proceeds to parents, and referring to the payments internally using the code word "computer." To fund the kickback payments, the Information alleges Smart Therapy submitted claims to Minnesota Medicaid for EIDBI services that were not rendered or were significantly inflated, including a substantial volume of billed family and caregiver training that the Information alleges was rarely if ever provided. Over the two-year period, the Information alleges Smart Therapy submitted approximately $19.8 million in false and fraudulent claims, of which Medicaid reimbursed approximately $7.7 million. The specific overt acts alleged include Mohamed depositing two $15,000 checks from Smart Therapy into her personal bank account on August 24 and August 25, 2023, and withdrawing $7,500 and $5,000 in cash on those respective dates for the purpose of paying kickbacks to parents. The prosecution is brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota and the National Fraud Enforcement Division's Health Care Fraud Section.