A whistleblower is sounding the alarm in Maine, and the echoes are disturbingly familiar to those who watched the explosive $1 billion welfare fraud scandal unravel in Minnesota.
According to a new NewsNation report, Christopher Bernardini — a former billing specialist at Gateway Community Services — has accused the Somali-owned company of systematically defrauding Maine’s Medicaid program by billing for services never rendered. Gateway, which claimed to serve low-income and disabled clients, allegedly manipulated internal systems to make it appear as if staff had visited clients, even when they had not.
Bernardini, who says he initially believed in the company’s mission, told NewsNation, “I thought we were doing the right thing… 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.”
Worse, indeed. Documents obtained by The Maine Wire through a Freedom of Access Act request show Gateway Community Services received $28.8 million in Medicaid funds. The outlet also reported that the company’s owner, Abdullahi Ali, is no ordinary executive — he reportedly ran for political office in Jubaland, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia, and publicly claimed to have funded a militia there. If substantiated, that connection would dramatically escalate the case from domestic fraud to potential financing of foreign militancy.
A Somali non-profit leader was billing MaineCare while running to be the Warlord of Jubaland.@BigSteve207 joined @CarlHigbie to explain how the Mills administration enabled the grift: pic.twitter.com/2iSkCUk8V3
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) December 3, 2025
Though the scope of the alleged fraud in Maine has not reached the staggering scale of Minnesota’s $1 billion debacle, the similarities are hard to ignore — particularly in the structure of the scheme and the background of the organizations involved.
The Minnesota case, still unfolding, has already led to federal indictments and ICE raids, especially targeting Somali nationals involved in illegal immigration and potential terrorist financing. One federal investigation found that millions stolen through food-aid programs may have been funneled to Al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
In both states, critics claim that political leaders — particularly Democrats — either turned a blind eye or retaliated against whistleblowers who tried to speak up. In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz has been accused by state employees of “systemic” retaliation against fraud investigators. On Meet the Press last month, Walz admitted Minnesota had become a magnet for criminal networks but warned against demonizing the Somali community.
Now, in Maine, the political reaction is already heating up. Democrat allies of Governor Janet Mills have dismissed the claims and accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles of racism for raising concerns over The Maine Wire’s reports. But Bernardini’s testimony — combined with tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and eerily similar patterns of abuse — is likely to push this story far beyond campaign rhetoric.
ICE, meanwhile, is reportedly increasing operations in the Minneapolis area to target individuals connected to the earlier fraud case, including those in the country illegally.
So far, both Gateway Community Services and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services have refused to comment on the accusations. But with mounting public scrutiny, silence may not be an option for much longer.
For now, the fraud playbook appears to be repeating itself — this time, with Maine taxpayers footing the bill.
