Salman Ahmed Elmi, a Minnesota refugee once honored by the state, was charged last week with eight counts of aiding and abetting theft in a $4.5 million Medicaid fraud and sex trafficking scheme.
Elmi, an immigrant from Somalia, was one of four associates who allegedly ran four phony agencies in Minnesota — Reva Health, Reva Autism, Helpful Housing, and Homefelt Assisted Living — that scammed the government health care program out of more than $4.5 million since 2023. Prosecutors said Elmi himself billed Medicaid for more than $1 million in unprovided or illegible services.
The 2021 Outstanding Refugee Award winner was released from custody on Monday but was required to surrender his passport and remain in Minnesota. He is due back in court on Oct. 4.
Elmi’s three alleged associates — Frank Reeves, Viktoriya Komonash, and Andrea Sampson — were also involved in the scheme, prosecutors said. Sampson and Reeves were arrested last week for their role in the sex trafficking ring. Investigators had been tracking the pay-for-sex operation since 2019.
The crew allegedly recruited homeless and drug-addicted young women and rented apartments in their names. They would then steal the identities of men paying for sex and bill Medicaid in those men’s names, according to court records.
Elmi had been championed by Minnesota’s Department of Human Services as a rags-to-riches story of refugee success. He started a business “to help inspire other people,” according to a since-deleted profile celebrating him as an “outstanding refugee” on the state’s website.
Besides helping create the bogus businesses used to rip off Medicaid, Elmi was also the founder of Tavolo, an AI marketing app for restaurants. His partial ownership in Tavolo allowed him to secure a loan and start Reva Health, one of the fake agencies, according to reports.
In the viral moment that preceded these charges, Elmi had been held up by state officials as a model of refugee entrepreneurship. The Department of Human Services featured him prominently in its outreach, using his story to illustrate the potential of resettlement programs. That profile has since been scrubbed from the agency’s website as the allegations surfaced.
The arrests come amid an ongoing scandal in Minnesota where investigators believe they have uncovered billions of dollars in welfare fraud across separate investigations. State officials have faced mounting pressure to tighten oversight of Medicaid providers and housing assistance programs.
Elmi is scheduled to appear in court in Minneapolis.