Habiba Mohamed

Introduction

Habiba Mohamed, a 58-year-old woman from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was charged by information on October 29, 2026, with conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with an alleged $19.1 million scheme against the Minnesota Medicaid EIDBI autism-therapy program. Per the charging document, Mohamed and her co-conspirators — previously charged by indictment — submitted fraudulent EIDBI claims, and she personally paid kickbacks to the parents of Medicaid recipients in exchange for being able to submit claims for services. The charge was made public in the Justice Department’s October 30, 2026 enforcement-surge announcement, which flagged it as the largest of the newly charged cases.

Background Information

EIDBI is Minnesota’s Medicaid benefit for autism therapy, and it is the program the $19.1 million allegation is aimed at. The Minnesota Star Tribune, reporting on the charging document, identifies the business at its center as Smart Therapy Center LLC, a Minnesota provider of services to children with autism where Mohamed worked as clinical director from approximately September 2022 through September 2024 — overseeing training, hiring and firing, and dealings with outside vendors — while holding a 10% ownership interest in the company. She was charged in the same Oct. 30 announcement as three other defendants in separate schemes — Shaakir Ibrahim, Faiza Osman Ahmed, and Jama Yusuf Mohamod — who are not her co-defendants, and this page does not treat them as such.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not convicted. Mohamed has been charged by information; the claims are allegations from an unadjudicated charging document, and she is presumed innocent.

As alleged in the information, Mohamed and her co-conspirators submitted fraudulent claims related to the EIDBI program, and she, personally, paid kickbacks to the parents of Medicaid recipients in exchange for being able to submit claims for services. The Star Tribune’s account of the charging document describes the mechanics: prosecutors allege Mohamed and others paid parents between $300 and $1,500 per month for enrolling their Medicaid-eligible children at Smart Therapy, with the payments disguised through checks issued to family members and employees who then provided cash to the parents. The company allegedly submitted approximately $19.8 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims over two years and received about $7.7 million in reimbursements, with claims that included services never provided or not medically necessary.

The charging document also alleges, per the Star Tribune, that Mohamed deposited two $15,000 checks from Smart Therapy into her personal bank account in August 2023 and withdrew a total of $12,500 in cash to pay the illegal kickbacks to parents. The alleged arrangement ran in two directions at once: fraudulent claims flowed outward to Medicaid, and kickback payments flowed to the parents whose children’s enrollments made the claims possible — the mechanism that distinguishes her allegation within the surge.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The charge landed amid a highly visible enforcement push. The same week, five senior Trump administration officials — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, and Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald — appeared in St. Cloud, where Patel identified four defendants accused of attempting to defraud Medicaid of more than $41 million and said authorities had executed 17 search warrants in Minnesota, including at autism centers and child-care providers, per the Star Tribune. Mohamed’s specific charge was announced the day before that event, in the Oct. 30 surge announcement reporting 13 defendants charged, convicted, or sentenced between Sept. 30 and Oct. 30, with nearly $83 million in intended losses. Her case is being jointly prosecuted by the Fraud Division’s Health Care Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, and investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and IRS-CI.

Current Status

Mohamed was charged by information on Oct. 29, 2026, and had not made a first appearance as of the Star Tribune’s Oct. 30 report. She has not publicly responded to the allegations, and the fetched record documents no arraignment, plea, or trial date. The government’s standing caveat applies in full: “An indictment, information, or complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” Until a court says otherwise, that presumption is the operative fact in her case.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The public record of Mohamed’s career now runs through the charging document’s account of Smart Therapy Center: a clinical directorship from about September 2022 to September 2024, a 10% ownership stake, and the alleged kickback operation that prosecutors say purchased access to Medicaid-eligible children. Whether the alleged conduct ends her involvement with the provider, her clinical career, or anything else is not addressed in the fetched record, and this page does not speculate. What exists today is a single conspiracy charge tied to a $19.1 million alleged scheme, a described role as the alleged payer of kickbacks, and a presumption of innocence that runs until proven otherwise.

Sources

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota, “DOJ’s Fraud Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District Minnesota Uncover Nearly $30 Million in Benefits Fraud in Enforcement Surge,” October 30, 2026 — source
The Minnesota Star Tribune (Jessie Van Berkel and Sofia Barnett), “Trump officials spotlight Minnesota fraud cases involving millions of dollars,” October 30, 2026 — source