Two children of Mohammed Siad Barre, the Somali dictator whose regime killed hundreds of thousands during two decades of brutal rule, are living in a Columbus suburb and are connected to home health businesses that have received millions in Medicaid payments, according to reporting from The Daily Wire and the New York Post.
Ayanle Siad Barre, described as his father’s “right-hand man” during the regime, incorporated Somal Global Services in 2011, registering the company with Medicaid as a home health care provider. His sister, Deka Mohamed Siad, incorporated Vanguard Home Health Care in 2007, listing her husband, former Somali ambassador Abdikarim Ali Omar, as the administrator.
Medicaid records show Vanguard was paid $1.8 million between 2018 and 2022, taking in as much as $60,000 a month for providing personal aides to low-income patients. The Post initially reported the funds came from Medicare, but The Daily Wire noted the money was actually from Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor.
Both siblings, now in their 60s, live in Westerville, an affluent suburb of Columbus. They fled Somalia in the early 1990s after their father’s government collapsed, initially settling in Virginia before moving to Ohio.
Questions Over Services and Shell Companies
Whether the companies actually delivered the home health services they billed for is unclear. Somal Global Services was based at 2700 East Dublin Granville Road, an address that The Daily Wire’s Medicaid Millions investigation previously identified as hosting 80 companies that together billed $73 million to Medicaid and $23 million to Ohio. During a visit, this reporter found Somal Global Services was not listed in the building directory.
The company also does not appear in a Medicaid payments database beginning in 2018, suggesting it ceased operations before then. The New York Post described Somal Global Services as a translation company, though it was also registered as a Medicaid home health firm.
When The Daily Wire called Vanguard’s listed phone number, a man who answered said Deka’s husband had died. He hung up when asked to speak with Deka. A voicemail left at another number listed for her was not returned. Ayanle did not respond to requests for comment.
Public records show Ayanle also incorporated Somali Immigrants Achieving Democracy—an acronym that spells the dictator’s name—and the Somoli [sic] Culture and Research Institute. Both siblings are registered voters in the United States.
Refugee Community Reacts
The Post reported that the presence of Siad Barre’s children was well known among Somalis in Columbus. One refugee, Ali-Guban Mohamed, told the paper he was shocked to see Ayanle “in the mosque enjoying his freedom.”
“My family were rounded up in a small township called Agabur and executed,” Mohamed said. “Their bodies were put into a well and that was happening across the board.”
He added: “The American immigration system is broken. ICE is rounding up and deporting people but the children of a known dictator with serious allegations of murder are living here.”
The case highlights broader concerns about how the United States grants refugee status, with critics arguing the system fails to distinguish between victims and perpetrators of violence.
Pattern of Medicaid Links Among Prominent Somalis
The Daily Wire’s reporting suggests the connection is not isolated. Somalia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abukar Dahir Osman, who has served as president of the UN Security Council, was tied to Progressive Health Care Services, a home health agency in Cincinnati.
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, perhaps the most prominent Somali in Washington and someone who frequently describes herself as a refugee, has family connections to the industry as well. Her family fled Somalia in 1991 after Barre’s fall; her father was a colonel in the Somali National Army. The Post reported that Omar’s sister registered a $20 million USAID consulting company using the home of Ister Ahmed Afree, who is tied to multiple Medicaid companies including Sunshine Care Center MN. Afree was business partners with several convicts in the Feeding Our Future fraud case.
The Daily Wire’s investigation into Medicaid billing has already prompted action. In February, the Trump administration released a trove of data showing how frequently Medicaid fraud occurs. Around the same time, Ohio lawmakers voted to change state law to crack down on the home health industry, a move directly attributed to The Daily Wire’s reporting.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-somali-war-criminals-kids-are-in-the-u-s-and-linked-to-fraud-scheme