In 2021, Salman Ahmed Elmi was awarded the Outstanding Refugee Award for Entrepreneurship by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Now, he’s facing charges in connection with a Medicaid fraud scheme with alleged ties to a sex trafficking ring.
Elmi, a native of Somalia, was charged last week with three counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle and five counts of aiding and abetting theft by false representation.
Prosecutors allege Elmi and three associates — Frank Reeves, Viktoriya Komonash and Andrea Sampson — ran four agencies that they used to bill more than $4.5 million to Medicaid since 2023. Those agencies were called Reva Health, Reva Autism, Helpful Housing and Homefelt Assisted Living.
Elmi and his associates allegedly recruited young women who were homeless or struggling with addiction, housing or finances. They then rented apartments in the women’s names using fake pay stubs and enlisted them in a pay-for-sex scheme. Investigators say they’ve been tracking the alleged sex trafficking ring since 2019. Sampson and Reeves were arrested as part of the sex trafficking ring bust last week.
The group then began stealing victims’ identities to bill Medicaid in their name, according to court filings.
Prosecutors say Elmi billed Medicaid for more than $1 million in services that were not provided or not eligible. He and his co-conspirators are accused of falsifying documents to get Medicaid reimbursements.
Elmi was released from custody on Monday, though a judge ordered him to surrender his passport and remain in Minnesota.
His next court hearing is set for October 4.
Elmi was previously featured in a since-removed profile on the Minnesota DHS’s website in which he explained that he started a business “to help inspire other people.”
Elmi is the founder of Tavolo, an AI marketing app for restaurants.
“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, so shifting that mindset was difficult but important,” he said in the profile. “Navigating those treacherous waters allowed me to provide for my family and work on my terms.”
Tavolo received funding from Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary. Elmi allegedly used his part-ownership of Tavolo to get a loan to start Reva Health.
The arrests of Elmi and his co-conspirators come amid a broader effort to fight fraud in Minnesota, as investigators have uncovered billions of dollars in welfare-program fraud in the state. The scandal surrounding the fraud — and the failure of the state’s leaders to properly investigate and implement guard rails — led Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to suspend his campaign for reelection earlier this year.
More than 90 people, the majority of whom belong to Minnesota’s Somali community, have been accused of defrauding public assistance programs. Federal prosecutors have said that the fraud scandal could end up costing taxpayers around $9 billion.