Overview
- Shamso Ahmed Hassan pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges that include money laundering and conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
- Prosecutors say Hassan and a co‑defendant submitted nearly $46.6 million in claims to Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention autism program from 2019 to 2024 and were reimbursed about $21.1 million.
- The indictment alleges the operators paid coded kickbacks to parents using checks cashed by family members and employees, referred to the payments with the code word "Computer," and used some of the proceeds to buy property and send money overseas.
- The scheme is tied to Smart Therapy Center LLC and Star Autism LLC, which were raided by federal authorities in 2024, and follows an earlier guilty plea by a related defendant, Asha Hassan.
- The charges were unsealed as part of a wider Justice Department sweep that named 15 defendants and signals stepped‑up federal scrutiny of rapid growth and potential fraud in state Medicaid and social‑service programs.