Minnesota fraudster cuts no-jail plea deal with key condition tied to alleged mastermind
Said Awil Ibrahim gets five years probation after pleading guilty in Minnesota's largest Medicaid fraud case ever
By Robert Schmad Fox News
Published May 6, 2026 12:59pm EDT
A Minnesota Medicaid fraud defendant is expected to avoid serving jail time under a plea deal that requires him to cooperate with authorities pursuing his fugitive co-defendant, whom a judge granted bond despite warnings from law enforcement that he may flee the country.
Said Awil Ibrahim pleaded guilty May 1 under a deal with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office that calls for five years of supervised probation and a stayed 150-day jail sentence in a nearly $11 million case Ellison’s office has called the state's largest Medicaid fraud prosecution. Per the terms of his plea agreement, he will also be required to help authorities track down his missing fugitive co-defendant, alleged mastermind Abdirashid Ismail Said.
Minnesota’s fraud scandals intensified in late 2025, as federal and state authorities expanded scrutiny into pandemic-era schemes involving suspects largely from the state’s Somali community.
Said testified at a hearing in 2023 that cultural misunderstanding was a factor in the fraud cases, arguing at the time that investigators did not understand that people within the Minneapolis Somali community often transfer funds to each other in ways that don't produce paper trails, local media reported at the time.
Said failed to show up for a mandated court appearance in early April after Hennepin County District Court Judge Juan Hoyos granted him a bond set at $150,000. The terms of the bond allowed Said to retain possession of his passport, even as law enforcement officials told the judge that he was a flight risk.
"Given the nature and severity of the charges, and SAID’s familial ties outside the jurisdiction of Minnesota, I believe there is a potential SAID may flee, hide, or otherwise prevent the execution of the warrant," a police detective wrote in the criminal complaint against Said. The complaint noted that Said has a wife and child in Kenya, where he is believed to have fled.
Ibrahim’s role in Said’s operation included defrauding Minnesota taxpayers of $2.2 million using false claims and paying himself over half a million dollars through the scheme. As part of his plea deal, Ibrahim has acknowledged that he stole from the state and agreed to return the $2.2 million through a payment plan that will be determined at his sentencing hearing.
His jail sentence will be stayed if he complies with probation and a payment plan.
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