Steve Robinson - Why is Somali Fraud Running Rampant in Minnesota and Maine? | SRS #273

[00:00:02] [music] [00:00:05] Steve Robinson, [00:00:08] >> thank you for having me back. [00:00:09] >> What have you been up to other than [00:00:10] boofing? [laughter] [00:00:12] >> Well, you know, I take take a break [00:00:14] every once in a while. [00:00:16] >> Bofing to investigate Somali fraud. [00:00:18] [laughter] [00:00:21] >> Oh [ __ ] Yeah, I didn't expect to see [00:00:23] you back so soon, but all the Somali [00:00:25] fraud that um has been uncovered, you've [00:00:28] been on this for a long time. So, uh you [00:00:31] know, we interviewed Nick. It's [ __ ] [00:00:32] awesome. And then, uh we thought we'd [00:00:35] get more into the weeds and bring you [00:00:36] back on since you've been you've been [00:00:38] hammering this for years. Well, you know [00:00:40] what's wild is when we were talking [00:00:42] about Chinese organized crime, we'd [00:00:45] already reported all of the information [00:00:47] about Gateway Community Services. I [00:00:50] mean, months prior to when we met the [00:00:52] first time, uh, we'd already reported [00:00:53] the significant facts. The whistleblower [00:00:55] had already come forward. Uh, but it was [00:00:57] being ignored by the local media, and of [00:00:59] course, none of the Democratic [00:01:01] politicians were reacting to it or [00:01:03] acknowledging it. They were saying, "Oh, [00:01:04] it's fake news. Don't you can't believe [00:01:06] the conservative media." Uh, it took [00:01:09] Rich M uh Rich McHugh from NewsNation [00:01:12] saw this and was like, "This is wild. [00:01:13] There's there's fraud going on in Maine [00:01:15] just like there is in Minnesota." and he [00:01:18] amplified it and did a report on it and [00:01:20] then all of a sudden there's just a [00:01:21] feeding frenzy like I hadn't seen [00:01:23] before. It was just uh the national [00:01:25] media descended and I was getting so [00:01:27] many emails and messages from people who [00:01:29] were like how is it that this is [00:01:31] happening but no other media outlets [00:01:33] have picked up on it like how have you [00:01:35] not had resignations or but you know [00:01:37] politicians coming out and issuing [00:01:39] statements like they're they're [00:01:40] gobsmacked at the lack of accountability [00:01:43] and the media culture of I guess [00:01:44] complacency in Maine when it comes to [00:01:47] these fraud issues. Uh because there's a [00:01:49] number of stories like that where we've [00:01:50] reported on them. We think they're [00:01:52] bombshell stories. Like Gateway is [00:01:54] legitimately a bombshell story. It [00:01:56] speaks to political corruption, Medicaid [00:01:58] fraud, immigration fraud, uh systemic [00:02:01] problems in our state. Uh and it [00:02:03] suddenly became this huge national [00:02:05] headline that everybody's talking about, [00:02:08] national media is talking about. And [00:02:10] we're kind of looking at ourselves like [00:02:11] we've been talking about this for 10 [00:02:12] months and nobody cared. But I mean, [00:02:15] credit to [00:02:15] >> infuriating. Credit to it is. But I [00:02:18] mean, it's also I guess it's a positive [00:02:20] that it's finally coming around. But [00:02:22] >> yeah, and I mean, we're used to it. We [00:02:23] we dealt with it with um the Chinese [00:02:25] organized crime where it's like you're [00:02:27] kind of talking about it and banging the [00:02:28] drum. It's a it's a it's a long road, a [00:02:30] long uh a long path down a dark tunnel [00:02:33] and eventually you come out and people [00:02:34] start recognizing stuff and they and [00:02:36] you're able to share with them what [00:02:37] you've learned. Uh and there is a there [00:02:39] is a hopefully a payoff and a solution [00:02:41] at the end of the tunnel. Um but credit, [00:02:44] huge credit to Nick Shirley. I was [00:02:46] telling Jeremy earlier, I'm like it's [00:02:49] those big Mormon balls, you know, [00:02:52] [laughter] like I if I see anybody with [00:02:54] LDS on their like LDS door knocker on [00:02:57] their resume cuz he can just go up and [00:02:59] talk with anybody, you know, he's just [00:03:00] like had a a his career training was [00:03:03] doornocking uh for for a Mormon mission. [00:03:06] So, it's like, [laughter] [00:03:06] >> yeah, he's like the perfect guy to just [00:03:08] go up and just straight face just ask [00:03:10] you questions. [00:03:11] >> Um and I mean, I've never seen a video [00:03:13] go that viral. That's crazy. Just I mean [00:03:17] uh the amount of attention that he's [00:03:19] brought to it. Uh and for him to go back [00:03:21] in there [00:03:23] >> and cover the non-emergency medical [00:03:25] transportation stuff, which is he did in [00:03:27] a video I think released uh um just this [00:03:29] week. Um that's that's nuts. I I hope [00:03:32] he's hope he's looking out for his [00:03:34] safety. [00:03:34] >> He is. He is. [00:03:35] >> He is he is uh notorious. I mean, he [00:03:37] probably wouldn't even be uh safe in [00:03:40] Maine at this point. You know, they're [00:03:42] >> they're uh they're on on guard. We show [00:03:44] we show up at some places and and you [00:03:47] take your phone out. We've had one of [00:03:48] our reporters actually had his phone [00:03:50] stolen from him. [00:03:51] >> Are you getting threats? [00:03:52] >> Yeah. [00:03:53] >> Oh, well, I can take your [00:03:56] >> Got your little gift, Steve. [00:03:58] >> Well, thank you very much. [00:03:59] >> In case any of those threats get out of [00:04:00] control, you know. So, sounds like you [00:04:05] just met Jason on your way down uh from [00:04:07] Maine. [00:04:07] >> I did. Yeah. [00:04:08] >> So, Jason's my buddy over at SIG. [00:04:11] >> Oh, man. And uh we thought, you know, [00:04:14] with all the stuff you're uncovering and [00:04:16] everything you're getting into, you got [00:04:18] to protect yourself, right? So that's [00:04:19] the Sig P211 GTO. It's the Sig Sour [00:04:23] first go around at a 2011. And uh it's [00:04:27] got a it's got their new optics line on [00:04:30] there, the red dot. [00:04:33] >> Oh yeah, [00:04:33] >> that thing is a machine. I'm actually [00:04:35] shooting a competition with it this [00:04:37] week. I never shoot competitions, but [00:04:40] >> Thank you very much. That's awesome. [00:04:41] >> You're welcome. You're welcome. [00:04:42] >> We We need it. [laughter] [00:04:44] >> We'll break it in. We'll break it in out [00:04:46] back here. [00:04:47] >> Thank you. [00:04:47] >> And then, you know, [00:04:50] everybody gets one of these. [laughter] [00:04:52] So, Vigilance Elite gummy bears. Maybe [00:04:55] you can put one of those in your [00:04:56] booofing kit. Let me know how it goes. [00:04:58] >> Well, I've actually got a funny story [00:05:00] about the gummy bears cuz the last time [00:05:01] we were recorded, I went back to my [00:05:03] Airbnb and I immediately get inundated [00:05:07] with phone calls from a source who's [00:05:09] like, "You're not going to believe [00:05:09] this." It was a little bit before the [00:05:11] election and they had a woman, just a [00:05:14] random woman had received absentee [00:05:17] ballots, 250 absentee ballots in an [00:05:19] Amazon Prime package shipped to her [00:05:21] house through UPS. Legitimate Maine [00:05:23] absentee ballots. And [clears throat] [00:05:26] >> holy [ __ ] [00:05:27] >> I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. working on [00:05:30] that story to break it and was powered [00:05:32] by visual silly gummy bears. I was just [00:05:35] crushing gummy bears [laughter] and [00:05:36] working on the story. So that that story [00:05:39] was powered by gummy bears. [00:05:40] >> We'll load you up. We'll load you [00:05:41] [laughter] up with gummy bears. [00:05:43] >> But [clears throat] uh and then you know [00:05:44] we got a Patreon account, subscription [00:05:47] account, and um we've turned it into [00:05:50] hell of a community. So we offer them [00:05:52] the opportunity to ask every single [00:05:53] guest a question. And this is from [00:05:54] Samantha. Steve, what is the likelihood [00:05:57] that local politicians and national ones [00:05:59] across the nation will be held [00:06:01] accountable for the fraud that has been [00:06:03] allowed to take place? [00:06:07] If you asked me a year ago, I would say [00:06:09] very low. Now, I would say very high. It [00:06:12] also depends on what you mean by [00:06:13] accountability. Um, for Ian Osman having [00:06:17] to resign and being forced out in [00:06:19] disgrace, I would call that [00:06:20] accountability. Uh, and he is facing two [00:06:22] gun theft charges. Um, you know, being [00:06:25] forced out of office is a level of [00:06:27] accountability. Um, you know, if you're [00:06:30] guilty of conspiring in some kind of a [00:06:33] pay-to-play scheme to turn a blind eye [00:06:35] to the fraud or to support the fraud or [00:06:37] to introduce a bill that becomes the [00:06:39] program that is defrauded, um, you know, [00:06:41] and you're forced out of office, that's [00:06:43] a, uh, I would say that's a level of [00:06:45] accountability. But to people who [00:06:47] straight up took payouts and bribes, uh, [00:06:50] it's very very hard to prove a cash [00:06:53] bribe. You know, there's these things [00:06:55] are very, very hard to prove. And I [00:06:57] think what we're going to find is that [00:06:58] the fraud is happening at a scale that [00:07:00] is so far beyond what we're capable of [00:07:03] investigating through the traditional [00:07:04] justice system that you're just not [00:07:06] going to be able to deal with it in that [00:07:08] way. Um just putting an end to the fraud [00:07:11] is probably the best accountability that [00:07:13] we can hope for. [00:07:14] >> Yeah. [00:07:15] >> I don't know that the money's ever [00:07:16] coming back. Um, but putting putting [00:07:18] putting an end to the fraud and voting [00:07:20] people out of office who benefited from [00:07:22] it or turned a blind eye to it, um, is [00:07:25] really the the best I think we can hope [00:07:26] for. And I'm I'm reasonably confident [00:07:29] that we'll get there. I think President [00:07:30] Trump made [00:07:31] >> Why is it do you think that's the best [00:07:32] we can hope for? I mean, I I don't argue [00:07:34] that. I'm just curious of your opinion. [00:07:37] Is it just from, you know, looking at [00:07:39] history? Nobody ever gets held [00:07:41] accountable. They're all playing on the [00:07:43] same team. [00:07:44] >> Yeah, I guess I'm uh I'm a little bit [00:07:46] cynical. I think there is an element of [00:07:47] that. Um there's so much uh fraud and [00:07:50] corruption on the Republican side that [00:07:52] they don't want to dig too deeply on the [00:07:53] fraud and corruption on the Democrat [00:07:55] side cuz turnabouts fair play. [00:07:56] >> You know, they're kind of like we don't [00:07:58] >> we don't want to look too deeply uh you [00:08:00] know in the in the the Democrats closet [00:08:02] because we don't want them looking too [00:08:03] deeply in our closet. That kind of thing [00:08:05] is certainly happening. Trump though [00:08:07] flips that because he doesn't care about [00:08:09] any of that. He doesn't care if it's if [00:08:11] it's Democrat corruption or Republican [00:08:12] corruption. I'm sure on some level [00:08:14] there's some strategy and some horse [00:08:16] trading going on. Um but he really I [00:08:18] think is just wants it to stop and he's [00:08:21] very pro-American. So he's the wild card [00:08:23] in that and and the president and and [00:08:26] Steven Miller some of the people who are [00:08:27] around him. So it makes me optimistic [00:08:29] that you will see some change and the [00:08:33] incentive that they have is this huge [00:08:35] bucket of federal money that comes to [00:08:37] these states. You've already seen him [00:08:39] start to say, and the municipalities, by [00:08:40] the way, he's already started to say, if [00:08:43] they continue to pay out these uh, you [00:08:45] know, fraudulent programs, if they don't [00:08:47] crack down on this, we're going to cut [00:08:48] off the federal money. And that is going [00:08:50] to be devastating for states. That'll be [00:08:53] devastating for these cities that rely [00:08:55] to on huge amounts of federal money. The [00:08:57] way the federal government asserts [00:08:58] control over a lot of states and a lot [00:09:01] of cities is by getting them dependent [00:09:03] on federal money and then saying you've [00:09:06] got to do x y and z if you want to keep [00:09:07] that federal money coming. You know [00:09:09] you've got to you got to put uh you know [00:09:11] outous this has actually happened in [00:09:13] Bangor. You got to you got to put oh you [00:09:14] took the co money that means you have to [00:09:16] put public outouses in these areas where [00:09:18] all the vagrants are doing drugs in [00:09:20] public. Um, there's a number of ways [00:09:22] where they exert power over smaller [00:09:24] governments through the money. But that [00:09:25] can work the other way around. And Trump [00:09:28] is taking steps to say, "We're taking [00:09:30] the money away. If you don't if you [00:09:32] don't do what's right, if you don't do [00:09:33] what's in America's best interest, we're [00:09:35] taking the money away." And I think he [00:09:37] has every right to do that because uh [00:09:40] the states have shown that they're using [00:09:43] the money totally irresponsibly. They're [00:09:45] not policing fraud. They're using it to [00:09:46] buy political favors. Why do you think [00:09:48] nobody goes to prison in what estimated [00:09:51] $9 billion in Minnesota alone? [00:09:55] >> Well, because the fraud is so [00:09:57] decentralized, [00:09:58] >> not even a charge. [00:09:59] >> It's so decentralized. It's so um [00:10:02] there's so many people doing it and the [00:10:04] the amount of just think about what [00:10:06] what's involved in a a criminal trial [00:10:09] from the uh investigation charging. They [00:10:12] get a defense attorney who's going to [00:10:13] come in and represent them paid with [00:10:15] daycare money. you know, they they get a [00:10:17] little bit of that daycare money to to [00:10:18] buy the night the best defense attorney [00:10:20] to seow reasonable doubt about what's [00:10:22] going on. Well, do you have do you have [00:10:23] surveillance or you just relying on Nick [00:10:25] Shirley's video? Like, do you have [00:10:26] information? We all know what's going on [00:10:28] here, but that's not the same standard [00:10:30] that is going to work in a uh you know, [00:10:33] a trial by jury. And who's the jury [00:10:35] going to be comprised of? [00:10:37] >> Think about that. You get one you one [00:10:38] Somali on a jury in Minnesota. You think [00:10:41] they're going to convict anybody? Well, [00:10:44] I mean, aren't they supposed to make [00:10:46] sure that the jury has no [00:10:49] no interest? [00:10:52] >> They're supposed to [00:10:52] >> in the case. [00:10:53] >> They're supposed to, but I mean, uh, [00:10:55] maybe it's a a Somali who has a [00:10:58] different daycare. You never know. [00:10:59] >> Yeah. [00:11:00] >> But I mean, we've already seen that the [00:11:02] jury system [00:11:03] >> proven that the karushim runs so deep [00:11:04] that it's almost impossible to get rid [00:11:07] of it. [00:11:07] >> Yes. I mean, it's I I just am I'm [00:11:10] skeptical that you're going to claw back [00:11:11] that money or that the people who were [00:11:13] running the individual level schemes are [00:11:16] are going to um ever see it any time in [00:11:19] jail. I think there are definitely some [00:11:22] people I know in Maine there are people [00:11:24] who aided and emedded some of these [00:11:26] schemes there. There are u you know [00:11:29] [clears throat] Maine natives who for [00:11:30] example who worked at Gateway, white [00:11:32] liberal women who put their clinical [00:11:33] licenses on the line so this [00:11:35] organization could bill Medicaid. um [00:11:37] they can probably uh have an an [00:11:40] investigation or a trial. Uh they can be [00:11:43] they have more on the line. Maybe they [00:11:45] don't have, you know, an estate in Kenya [00:11:47] to bug out to. Uh I at least I don't [00:11:50] think. Um so there could be some [00:11:51] accountability there and that could send [00:11:54] that could have downstream effects of [00:11:55] causing people to be a little bit more [00:11:57] reluctant to aid in a bet fraud in the [00:11:59] future. Um, but I think at this point [00:12:03] we're so far we're it would be premature [00:12:06] to start thinking about justice or uh, [00:12:08] you know, vengeance at this point. We [00:12:10] have to stop the bleeding. [00:12:11] >> Yeah. [00:12:12] >> We This fraud is is ongoing. We're still [00:12:15] dealing with the political consequences [00:12:17] of it. There's massive amounts of money [00:12:19] that are still out there. [00:12:20] >> Well, I mean, part of it is making an [00:12:22] example out of somebody. [00:12:23] >> Yeah. [00:12:24] >> You know what I mean? in and in and and [00:12:25] and pinning their ass to the wall, [00:12:28] whether that's politicians or Somali or [00:12:31] whoever it is, you know, whoever's [00:12:33] involved, somebody needs to be made an [00:12:35] example of [00:12:36] >> because when you don't make an example [00:12:38] of it, then I know we're going to get [00:12:40] into it. We're going to get into Rwans, [00:12:43] right? It may now you have all these [00:12:44] other groups like, well, [ __ ] Somalies [00:12:47] are doing it. Rwans are doing it. [00:12:53] Maybe we should do it. Nothing happens [00:12:55] to them. Yeah. [00:12:56] >> Yeah. They got caught. They got a slap [00:12:57] on the wrist, you know? I mean, it it's [00:13:00] it's just I don't know. I'm just I'm [00:13:02] just [00:13:03] I think people Look, look at this. I [00:13:06] mean, Poly Market says there's an 11% [00:13:09] chance that Somalians who defrauded [00:13:11] government to fund terrorism will be [00:13:14] deported. Only an 11% chance. [00:13:18] You know what I mean? And that's I mean [00:13:20] this is this is the people you know what [00:13:22] I mean that's the sentiment and uh and [00:13:25] every time I look at poly market when it [00:13:26] comes to accountability [00:13:28] low low probability that the people [00:13:31] think that you know that anything is [00:13:33] ever going to happen. Nothing. It's just [00:13:36] it's I think people are more pissed off [00:13:39] now that we're not seeing any [ __ ] [00:13:42] accountability than they are at the [00:13:43] actual crime. [00:13:46] Because if you just allow the crime to [00:13:47] happen over and over and over and over [00:13:51] again and nobody's ass gets pinned to [00:13:53] the wall, then [snorts] it is I mean [00:13:54] it's it's it's it's basically a [00:13:56] recruiting mechanism. [00:14:01] But that gets to the real nature of the [00:14:04] crime, right? Are we are we turning a [00:14:06] blind eye to this or are we benefiting [00:14:08] from it? The political system, [00:14:10] >> the the political system in power. Uh, [00:14:12] and I know we're getting closer and [00:14:14] closer, I think, to the emergence of [00:14:16] evidence in Minnesota that shows that [00:14:18] um, Governor Tim Walls was aware of [00:14:21] this. Ag Keith Ellison was aware of what [00:14:23] was going on and had struck uh, you [00:14:25] know, a deal with the devil essentially [00:14:26] to look the other way in exchange for [00:14:29] support from the Somali political [00:14:30] community. I think that investigations [00:14:32] in Maine will find that something [00:14:34] similar happened there. And the more you [00:14:37] look at the problem, the more it looks [00:14:38] like not an independent scandal of we [00:14:40] have the Minnesota welfare fraud [00:14:42] scandal, the main welfare fraud scandal, [00:14:43] the Ohio welfare fraud scandal. It's [00:14:46] just one scandal. It's one scandal. And [00:14:48] it may have started out 25 years ago as [00:14:51] um opportunistic [00:14:54] um Somali diaspora migrants taking [00:14:57] advantage of a welfare system that maybe [00:14:59] was built on good faith and trust and [00:15:02] didn't have the right safeguards and [00:15:04] protections. But it has become in my [00:15:06] view a nation building scheme that is [00:15:09] backed by political factions in Somalia. [00:15:11] The amount of wealth that they are [00:15:12] extracting from the American taxpayer is [00:15:15] we're talking about rebuilding whole [00:15:17] communities in Moadishu. We're talking [00:15:19] about the defense budget. We're talking [00:15:21] about the single largest economic factor [00:15:24] in Somalia is money flowing from our [00:15:27] pockets. The claim that Somali Medicaid [00:15:30] pirates put on the American paycheck, [00:15:32] the American workers paycheck. That's [00:15:34] the biggest economic factor in Somalia. [00:15:36] So why wouldn't political actors there [00:15:39] >> protect that and expand that and do what [00:15:41] they could to support that and [00:15:42] streamline it? And they have. And I [00:15:44] think we're seeing evidence in Maine, [00:15:46] you're seeing evidence in Somalia of [00:15:48] highlevel political actors who are [00:15:52] involved in the Medicaid schemes, [00:15:54] whether that's operating a homebased [00:15:55] care agency uh or a money transmitting [00:15:59] service. Uh this is in no doubt a [00:16:02] deliberate scheme by Somalia uh by [00:16:04] Somali political factions to extract [00:16:06] wealth for their own purposes for nation [00:16:08] building. [00:16:08] >> Yeah. Yeah. Um [00:16:10] man, you need a podcast. Why don't you [00:16:13] have a podcast? [00:16:14] >> Well, well, we do. We have uh we have uh [00:16:16] robinsonreport.substack.com [00:16:18] and mainwiretv. We do uh a lot of [00:16:21] podcastike episodes, but I'm like [00:16:24] crawling around Lewon and Chinese [00:16:25] marijuana grows all the time. It's tough [00:16:27] to do it really consistently. We want to [00:16:30] uh as we continue to grow, but I mean [00:16:32] we've just this the reporting that we've [00:16:34] done on the uh Somali Medicaid fraud is [00:16:38] built on public records requests that [00:16:40] take us somewhere between 5 to 6 months [00:16:42] to fill. Pay pay the [clears throat] [00:16:44] government thousands of dollars to get [00:16:45] these records to show them where the [00:16:47] fraud is that they're covering up to [00:16:49] show the people of Maine where the fraud [00:16:50] is that the Mills administration is [00:16:52] covering up. And we get massive Excel [00:16:54] spreadsheets, you know, with payment [00:16:56] data, get 8,000page PDFs showing the [00:16:59] audits that the Mills administration [00:17:00] does and then sweeps under the rug. Like [00:17:02] they find the fraud and then they just [00:17:04] sweep it under the rug and no never tell [00:17:06] anyone about it. Uh it all takes a huge [00:17:09] amount of time to go over and analyze [00:17:12] and uh we're a very very small team. So, [00:17:15] we'd love to do the podcast, but I think [00:17:17] for me the most beneficial thing I can [00:17:21] do for the state of Maine is to really [00:17:23] understand from an investigative [00:17:25] perspective what's going on to get the [00:17:27] information. And it takes a lot of time, [00:17:29] too, because we're reporting in an [00:17:31] adversarial environment in a in a normal [00:17:33] state. You get the public records [00:17:35] request. You [00:17:36] >> I get what you're saying. [00:17:37] >> You find you find Yeah. So [ __ ] [00:17:42] >> they're in I mean they're rooted in [00:17:44] there. [00:17:44] >> Yes. And they also we're we're the [00:17:46] conservative outlet in the states. So [00:17:48] they they uh feel like they're entitled [00:17:50] to treat us hostilely like you know like [00:17:53] like the Obama administration would [00:17:54] treat Fox News. They feel like they [00:17:56] don't have to uh talk to us or respond [00:17:58] to our questions. But, you know, we get [00:18:00] 8,000 pages of documents from them and [00:18:02] we're going through them and we see [00:18:03] something that looks like, you know, it [00:18:04] looks like you guys identified a [00:18:06] million- dollar fraud here and then [00:18:08] never recouped the money or just walked [00:18:10] away. It just looks really strange. We [00:18:12] have some questions about this. Rather [00:18:14] than coming in just answering our [00:18:16] questions and telling us what we're [00:18:17] looking at, they ignore us and give us [00:18:20] the silent treatment in the hopes that [00:18:22] we're going to go out and say something [00:18:24] that's just a little bit wrong. And then [00:18:26] they can go to the liberal newspapers or [00:18:28] to CNN, you know, when CNN shows up and [00:18:30] does like the what they did to Shirley [00:18:33] basically trying to say, "How do you [00:18:34] know you're true? How do you know you're [00:18:36] true?" [00:18:37] >> Which I don't even know what that means, [00:18:38] but uh when they give that treatment uh [00:18:41] to us, the Mills administration is [00:18:43] hoping that they'll be able to say, [00:18:44] "Well, the they just didn't know what [00:18:47] they were looking at. They just they [00:18:48] they misinterpreted the facts. they [00:18:50] don't know what they're talking about [00:18:51] and they'll have this like secret cubby [00:18:53] of information that they didn't make [00:18:54] available to us. So when you're [00:18:56] reporting in an adversarial environment [00:18:58] like that, it takes so much more time. [00:19:00] The number of people you have to talk [00:19:01] to, the amount you have to do very [00:19:03] careful due diligence on the documents [00:19:05] that you're looking at. It's like [00:19:06] reporting out of North Korea, [laughter] [00:19:08] you know, it's like you don't you don't [00:19:09] know exactly what's going on and they're [00:19:11] always trying to [ __ ] with you. They're [00:19:12] always trying to undermine you and [00:19:14] they're always trying to make you look [00:19:15] bad. But you're right. I would love to I [00:19:16] would love to have a podcast. Maybe [00:19:18] someday we can have a podcast that talks [00:19:20] about the economic miracle. The the [00:19:21] turnaround, the main miracle, the turn [00:19:23] [laughter] [00:19:24] >> I bet it's right around the corner. [00:19:25] >> Oh yeah. [00:19:26] >> I' I've bet this I mean we we I think [00:19:30] have exposed Chinese organized crime in [00:19:32] Maine to the highest possible levels. [00:19:34] I'm talking with you talking to Tucker. [00:19:36] I mean like there's nobody in Maine. [00:19:38] There's nobody in the country who [00:19:39] doesn't know that there's Chinese [00:19:40] organized crime growing pot in Maine. [00:19:42] And since we talked, it's only gotten [00:19:44] worse. [00:19:45] >> Really? [00:19:46] >> It's only gotten worse. What's happen [00:19:47] now? [00:19:47] >> It's uh uh I got public I got some [00:19:51] public records yesterday that shows that [00:19:53] the change as far as I can see is that [00:19:54] the state has gone out they they [00:19:56] increase the tax on adult use cannabis. [00:19:59] And as they did that they also went out [00:20:01] and hired a translation service so that [00:20:03] they can communicate better with the [00:20:05] Chinese growers who they've licensed [00:20:07] now. Oh, so we're paying to So we're [00:20:10] paying for a translation service so that [00:20:12] >> don't get rid of them. Just legitimize [00:20:14] them. [00:20:14] >> So the Chinese can lie, cheat, and steal [00:20:16] better is essentially why we have the uh [00:20:18] the new translation service. and they [00:20:20] just approved a license in Green Mine [00:20:23] for a uh 20,000 ft² marijuana grow that [00:20:28] uh one of the guys on the lease for the [00:20:30] space is an illegal alien from China who [00:20:33] caught two felonies for drug trafficking [00:20:35] in Washington state in 2022 wasn't [00:20:38] deported because uh President Biden was [00:20:41] in office. And this is okay under Maine [00:20:44] law because his name is just on the [00:20:45] lease, not on the marijuana license that [00:20:48] got approved with the help of a big-time [00:20:50] lobbying firm in Maine. So, there's just [00:20:53] so much money. Um, so I've got this [00:20:55] weird dystopian dream that I'm going to [00:20:57] be in my 60s and I'm still going to be [00:20:59] like that's Somali Medicaid fraud or you [00:21:02] know, Chinese marijuana. It's like these [00:21:04] problems as much light as you shine on [00:21:05] them, they're intractable, [00:21:06] >> man. You [clears throat] know this I [00:21:09] don't really like lobbying firms. So [00:21:10] maybe I need to get to know one because [00:21:12] it seems like they can make anything [00:21:14] happen. [00:21:15] >> Yeah. I mean I've been saying the same [00:21:17] thing about [00:21:18] >> maybe somebody will use one to actually [00:21:20] do the right [ __ ] thing for once. [00:21:22] Just kidding. Yeah. I doubt it. [00:21:23] >> Lobbyist for for America. And there's [00:21:26] not a lot of money in doing the right [00:21:27] thing. [00:21:28] >> I've noticed, [00:21:29] >> you know, which is sad. That's that's [00:21:32] why the you know that's why you see [00:21:33] those poly market views is people are so [00:21:36] cynical. You know the I think the [00:21:39] there's a part of the American soul that [00:21:41] just longs for justice and after seeing [00:21:43] it denied over and over and over again [00:21:46] you become cynical. [00:21:48] >> Yeah. Well there's no there there is [00:21:50] zero doubt in my mind that we live in a [00:21:53] two-tier justice system. [00:21:54] >> Yeah. [00:21:55] >> Do you I mean you believe that. Do you [00:21:56] believe that [00:21:58] >> that things are on the level? [00:22:00] >> No. Okay. [laughter] [00:22:02] >> No, I don't want to put words in her [00:22:04] mouth. [00:22:04] >> No, no, there's there's uh of course I [00:22:07] mean we just this week we saw uh you [00:22:08] know the Clintons, you know, skip out on [00:22:12] uh uh hearings with the House Oversight [00:22:14] Committee. Um and I I'll say uh [00:22:16] Representative uh James Comr has done a [00:22:19] great job um with the House Oversight [00:22:21] Committee. I think that the Clinton [00:22:22] stuff is a little bit maybe for show. [00:22:25] Did anyone really think that they were [00:22:26] going to show up? But it's still good to [00:22:28] do that. is still good to show that [00:22:29] there there is this two-tier justice [00:22:31] system. Moments like that help [00:22:33] crystallize it for the normies who [00:22:34] aren't paying super close attention. [00:22:36] >> Um but without what the House Oversight [00:22:38] Committee is doing both in U Minnesota [00:22:41] and in Maine, you wouldn't be seeing [00:22:43] this. [00:22:43] >> I mean, it was their investigations that [00:22:46] uh pushed this thing over the edge. [00:22:47] Everyone had been talking about, [00:22:49] >> you know, uh Somali fraud rings in [00:22:52] Minnesota for a long, long time. I mean, [00:22:54] when you go back and you look at the [00:22:55] news reports and what whistleblowers had [00:22:57] attempted to say, it's like, man, this [00:22:59] was really, really obvious for a decade [00:23:02] or more what was happening here, but it [00:23:04] just got, you know, pushed to the side [00:23:06] and if you talked about it, you were [00:23:07] racist and whistleblowers got fired, [00:23:09] people got punished if they pointed at [00:23:11] it. Uh so it took someone with courage [00:23:16] and a lack of financial interest maybe [00:23:18] in what was happening to come in and [00:23:20] investigate and expose what was [00:23:22] happening but without house oversight [00:23:23] just being ready to put facts on the [00:23:26] record uh which has the effect of [00:23:29] enabling media outlets to have something [00:23:31] tangible to grab onto because if you [00:23:33] don't have a fraud agency in in [00:23:36] Minnesota saying this is this is what [00:23:38] happened this is the audit result this [00:23:40] was how much was overbuild [00:23:42] uh you know these are the people who [00:23:43] were in charge, these are the people we [00:23:45] held accountable. If you don't have [00:23:46] something for a media outlet to grab on [00:23:47] to, becomes very difficult for them to [00:23:49] report on it. But if the House Oversight [00:23:51] Committee or any investigative body says [00:23:54] this is the amount, these are the [00:23:55] programs being defrauded. This is the [00:23:56] dollar amount we think is being [00:23:58] defrauded. Um these are the actions [00:23:59] we're taking. These are the people we [00:24:00] want to talk to. Then you get media [00:24:02] stories. It becomes much easier for the [00:24:04] national media to tell the story of what [00:24:07] happened. [00:24:07] >> Gotcha. Gotcha. [00:24:11] Let's talk about firearm security and [00:24:13] readiness because most people get this [00:24:15] wrong. If you keep a firearm for home [00:24:18] defense, you've got a real problem. How [00:24:21] do you keep it secure from kids or [00:24:23] guests, but still access it instantly [00:24:25] when seconds matter? I've tried the [00:24:27] electronic safes. Batteries die, keys [00:24:30] get lost, and fumbling in the dark is [00:24:33] not an option. Stopbox is practical and [00:24:36] built for people who want real [00:24:38] protection without giving up speed or [00:24:40] control. It's completely mechanical. No [00:24:43] batteries, no keys, nothing to fail. The [00:24:46] five button design is built for muscle [00:24:48] memory, so with one hand, you get fast [00:24:51] access while keeping everyone else out. [00:24:54] Your firearm stays secure but always [00:24:57] ready. And that's what sold me. You [00:24:59] shouldn't have to choose between safe [00:25:00] storage and being prepared. I keep mine [00:25:03] staged in different locations around the [00:25:05] house. It's TSA compliant for travel and [00:25:08] it's made right here in the USA. Stopbox [00:25:12] also makes vehicle safes and other gear [00:25:14] designed for realworld readiness. If you [00:25:17] carry or keep a firearm at home, this is [00:25:19] one upgrade that actually makes sense. [00:25:22] For a limited time, our listeners get [00:25:24] 10% off at Stopbox when you use code SRS [00:25:27] at checkout. Head to stopboxusa.com [00:25:31] and use code SRS for 10% off your entire [00:25:34] order. After you purchase, they will ask [00:25:36] you where you heard about them. Please [00:25:38] support our show and tell them our show [00:25:40] sent you. Again, that's stopboxusa.com [00:25:44] and use code SRS for 10% off your entire [00:25:47] order. [00:25:51] Well, Steve, let me give you your [00:25:52] introduction. Steve Robinson, [00:25:55] award-winning journalist and editor and [00:25:57] chief of the mainwire.com. [00:26:00] Your work has been cited in [00:26:01] congressional reports and during [00:26:03] congressional hearings featured on major [00:26:05] outlets and contributed directly to [00:26:08] local, state, and federal law [00:26:09] enforcement investigations throughout [00:26:11] New England. Creator of the documentary [00:26:14] High Crimes: The Chinese Mafia's [00:26:16] Takeover of Rural America. the first [00:26:19] journalist to report on Gateway [00:26:21] Community Services, a Somalrun Medicaid [00:26:24] agency in Maine that is alleged to have [00:26:27] defrauded taxpayers while the founder [00:26:30] was running for office in Jubil [00:26:33] Jubiland, Somalia. Did I say that right? [00:26:35] >> Did you not learn about this in civics [00:26:37] class? This is basic basic American [00:26:40] civics. Every every main middle schooler [00:26:42] needs to know about Jubiland Somalia. [00:26:44] [laughter] [00:26:45] You regularly scoop corporate media, [00:26:48] disrupting the journalism status quo, [00:26:50] and reveal the harsh reality of life in [00:26:53] rural New England. [00:26:56] All right, let's get into it. We've [00:26:59] heard about the fraud in Minnesota. We [00:27:01] kind of scratched the surface, a little [00:27:03] more than scratch the surface on what's [00:27:04] going on in Maine, but but how how long [00:27:07] how long have you been looking at this? [00:27:10] because I'm I have family in Maine in [00:27:13] Portland. There's ent I mean there's [00:27:15] entire [00:27:18] neighborhoods [00:27:20] of [00:27:21] it looks like Somalia. [00:27:24] >> It wasn't always that way. [00:27:25] >> And that sounds like Lewon is is [00:27:28] Somalia. Am I wrong? [00:27:30] >> Yeah. I mean it was a there was there [00:27:32] was a choice made to embrace uh migrant [00:27:36] resettlement. eventually it became uh [00:27:39] forced migrant resettlement in some of [00:27:40] these communities. Um this is something [00:27:42] that I've been following for I mean more [00:27:45] or less my entire adult life. Um just [00:27:47] because it's a it's a part of Maine's [00:27:49] story now. [00:27:50] >> I mean they're bringing a lot of [00:27:51] violence to the state. Correct. [00:27:53] >> I mean you I think we've I've I sent to [00:27:56] Jeremy the the plot of gun violence in [00:28:00] Somali and Somali Lewon. Uh the you can [00:28:05] plot on a Google map the shots fired [00:28:08] incidents and these are not um you know [00:28:11] shootings with a victim. Uh most of them [00:28:13] are unsolved. Uh they're just lots and [00:28:16] lots of gunplay. Uh lots and lots of [00:28:18] gunplay and you can see the [00:28:20] concentration of the little dots for [00:28:23] shootings around public housing [00:28:25] buildings that have been taken over [00:28:27] largely by the Somali diaspora. Uh, and [00:28:30] that's the same with overdoses, by the [00:28:33] way, too. Um, so Lewon, the the city of [00:28:36] Lewon, I think you you can say is uh [00:28:40] it's not safer as a result of the [00:28:42] migration trends. Um, the problem is no [00:28:45] place in Maine is doing particularly [00:28:47] well. But even if you look at Lewon in [00:28:49] comparison to say Bangor, which is a [00:28:52] somewhat um comparable city in in size, [00:28:55] demographic prior to the Somali [00:28:57] migration, but hasn't had the same [00:28:59] forced migrant resettlement yet. Um you [00:29:02] can see that the economic stats are are [00:29:05] way different. It's like something like [00:29:06] 20% of Lewon households speak a language [00:29:10] other than English at home. Uh and it [00:29:12] used to be that that was French uh [00:29:14] because it was a big French miltown. Um, [00:29:16] it has an interesting history as a town [00:29:18] with with migration, but um, it it's [00:29:20] it's scary. You know, we got the we got [00:29:23] the shooting data and the first thing I [00:29:25] did was just drive to Lewon because I [00:29:27] wanted to go see these neighborhoods and [00:29:29] walk around them in the middle of the [00:29:30] day and see what's going on. And [00:29:32] >> you have videos of what they look like? [00:29:34] >> I do. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I took [00:29:37] >> Put them up right now. [00:29:38] >> I took Yeah, I'll I'll share them. Uh, [00:29:39] I'll share particularly this video I [00:29:41] took this summer. This was before the [00:29:42] fraud stuff broke. Now, uh uh myself and [00:29:46] some of my reporters are um a little bit [00:29:49] infamous in Little Mogadishu. It's not [00:29:51] it's not safe for us to to be walking [00:29:53] around there. Um but I I walked around [00:29:56] just kind of observing, taking things in [00:29:58] um with a video camera um just kind of, [00:30:01] you know, hidden camera. When I was [00:30:02] looking back at it, I was scrolling [00:30:04] through and there was like, you know, [00:30:05] guys with guns hanging out of there. My [00:30:07] situ situational awareness was [ __ ] [00:30:10] because I didn't even notice this at the [00:30:11] time, but there's a guy who walked right [00:30:12] by me with a a 9mm hanging out of his [00:30:15] waistband. Um, you know, the people [00:30:17] getting arrested uh in broad daylight, [00:30:19] you know, fences, security cameras. [00:30:21] There's no white picket fences and and [00:30:23] swing sets and kids playing out there. [00:30:26] >> Um, you know, there's, you know, people [00:30:27] in the beekeeper suits scurrying along [00:30:29] the street. It's u it's not recognizable [00:30:34] from Maine of 20 or 25 years ago. And [00:30:36] then there are people in the state who [00:30:38] will say, "Oh, you're racist. How could [00:30:40] you say that?" Oh, um, uh, some, uh, [00:30:43] Lewon is a booming city right now. A [00:30:45] booming city. That's what Representative [00:30:48] >> Booming or boofing. [00:30:49] >> Both actually [laughter] [00:30:52] [ __ ] [00:30:53] >> Representative [laughter] [00:30:55] Representative Deca De actually said [00:30:57] that was her quote that Lewon Lewon was [00:31:00] a dying town before the Somali came. [00:31:02] >> Really? So what's the industry there? [00:31:05] What do they say the industry there is? [00:31:07] How's it booming? Uh [00:31:09] >> the real estate prices just [00:31:11] skyrocketing. Is unemployment down? [00:31:14] >> No. [00:31:17] >> Massive job opportunity? [00:31:19] >> Uh there's a lot of home health care [00:31:21] agencies. [00:31:22] >> Oh, okay. [00:31:23] >> That bill Medicaid. There's uh a lot of [00:31:25] >> That's a lucrative business to start [00:31:27] from what I've been told. There's a lot [00:31:28] of halal markets on uh on Canal Street [00:31:32] and Lisbon Street that have EBT [00:31:34] machines. Um there's uh there's an [00:31:37] economy that revolves around taxpayer [00:31:39] funded programs for sure, but private [00:31:41] industry not so much. And I couldn't [00:31:43] help but note the irony in Deca Del [00:31:45] saying that there was that Lewon was a [00:31:48] booming city thanks to the Somali [00:31:50] migration because those comments came [00:31:52] out like a week after there was a [00:31:54] shooting in Lewon at a a migrant event [00:31:57] that caused it to shut down. So yes, [00:31:59] it's booming with the sound of gunshots [00:32:01] ricocheting off subsidized housing [00:32:02] housing. Like it's [00:32:04] >> nice, [00:32:04] >> you know, things. [00:32:05] >> What's the population there roughly? [00:32:07] >> Uh like 33 35,000. Is there is there any [00:32:10] in I've never heard of a 35,000 [00:32:13] person town booming. But what is it [00:32:17] legitimately though? Is there any [00:32:19] industry there? Is there is this just [00:32:20] somebody just talking out of their ass? [00:32:23] Industry? No, I wouldn't say industry is [00:32:25] a great word for it. There are some [00:32:26] businesses that are trying to open and [00:32:28] trying to to start there. Uh it's got an [00:32:31] interesting history because prior to the [00:32:34] arrival of Somali in Lewon in in 2000 is [00:32:37] basically right when they started to [00:32:39] arrive. Um the population of Lewon had [00:32:43] declined. So, it's a town where uh you [00:32:45] know in the in the uh turn of the [00:32:47] century there's a famine in Quebec and [00:32:52] the you know bad farming season and so [00:32:54] you see this huge wave of French [00:32:56] Canadian migrants come down into Lewon [00:32:59] and that was the first kind of I don't [00:33:01] know migration crisis in Maine. The [00:33:03] first migrant crisis in Lewon Maine was [00:33:05] French Canadian Catholics. Maine was [00:33:07] predominantly a Protestant uh place. So [00:33:09] you had some conflict between the [00:33:10] French-speaking uh Canadian Catholics [00:33:13] and the English-sp speakaking [00:33:14] Protestants, the locals. Uh but it [00:33:16] became a milltown and the the uh French [00:33:19] Canadians, the Irish migrants who were [00:33:21] there as well, very industrious building [00:33:23] canals, built the cathedral, built these [00:33:25] huge mill buildings and that had kind of [00:33:27] petered out during the '90s thanks to [00:33:29] globalization and the you know the [00:33:31] offshoring of American manufacturing. [00:33:33] This is a story that you see in almost [00:33:35] every main town. There's a big bustling [00:33:37] manufacturing, some hub that supports [00:33:40] the town. This is true of where I grew [00:33:41] up in Dexter Mine where we had Dexter [00:33:43] shoes until Warren Buffett bought it and [00:33:45] offshored it. Um, but through the '90s, [00:33:49] uh, Lewon starts to lose population [00:33:51] because their mills are, uh, closing [00:33:52] down and then the Somali uh, migration [00:33:56] is viewed by some policy makers as this [00:33:59] is what we need. You see it even today [00:34:01] that we need to have open borders. We [00:34:03] need to have just a borderless welfare [00:34:05] state and mass migration to fix our [00:34:08] economy. We need the cheap labor. We're [00:34:11] not going to be able to uh you know uh [00:34:13] turn around our declining birth rates. [00:34:14] We just need to open our borders and [00:34:16] bring in as many people as possible. [00:34:18] It's what we've done. We've done that [00:34:19] experiment in Lewon, Maine for 25 years, [00:34:22] and this is where it got us. Man, [00:34:25] you hear the same story over and over [00:34:28] and over again. [00:34:31] What what was it that really caught your [00:34:32] attention? [00:34:35] >> Well, we obtained from a source these uh [00:34:38] letters called notices of violation. And [00:34:41] this is what happens when Department of [00:34:44] Health and Human Services, Health [00:34:45] Department, [00:34:46] it's goes by different names depending [00:34:48] on what state you're in. Uh they will go [00:34:51] through and audit entities that bill [00:34:53] Medicaid. [clears throat] [00:34:54] Uh and in the state of Maine, we [00:34:56] expanded our Medicaid in 2019 hugely. Um [00:35:00] most of this 90% of this is federal [00:35:03] money that comes in for the expansion [00:35:04] population. Um so you've got uh I think [00:35:07] it's something like uh 350 or 400,000 [00:35:11] mayors are on Medicaid. Uh and that's of [00:35:14] a population of 1.4 million. Depends on [00:35:17] how many whether you're going with like [00:35:18] COVID era numbers where there was [00:35:19] basically no eligibility. Everybody was [00:35:21] allowed on Medicaid. Uh but they had to [00:35:23] roll that back a little bit. We have [00:35:26] from 2019 to 2024, which is the data set [00:35:30] that we got, we have 5,000, a little [00:35:33] over 5,000 Medicaid providers. That's [00:35:36] what they call them. So these are [00:35:37] businesses that are allowed to send an [00:35:39] invoice to Maine and get it paid with [00:35:43] Medicaid money. Um, you would think this [00:35:46] is supposed to be hospitals, doctor's [00:35:48] offices, dentists, people who are taking [00:35:51] giving health care services to poor [00:35:52] people, but you would think of when you [00:35:54] think Medicaid providers. That's not the [00:35:57] reality, of course. So, this this these [00:35:59] 5,000 Medicaid providers, [00:36:02] DHS takes 250 of the claims that they've [00:36:05] submitted, 250 of the invoices that [00:36:08] they've received from these providers, [00:36:10] and they review them to see if they have [00:36:12] documents to substantiate the billing, [00:36:15] to see if they follow the rules of the [00:36:17] program, which are are pretty um [00:36:20] specific and strict and exhaustive. uh [00:36:22] and they calculate an error rate based [00:36:26] on how many of those claims don't follow [00:36:28] the rules and don't follow uh you know [00:36:32] what it takes to actually have a [00:36:33] legitimate reimbursement. And one of the [00:36:36] groups that we got a notice of violation [00:36:38] for was Gateway Community Services, [00:36:40] which I was familiar with because it's [00:36:42] an extremely political group, very [00:36:45] political, um almost an adjunct of the [00:36:48] main Democratic party. It has an office [00:36:50] in Portland and an office in Lewon. [00:36:53] These offices host political events for [00:36:56] Democrats all the time. All the time. [00:36:58] Representative Deca Dlock was a former [00:37:01] uh assistant executive director at [00:37:03] Gateway Community Services. [00:37:05] Representative Ysef Ysef worked at [00:37:07] Gateway Community Services. Um uh Eklas [00:37:10] Ahmed, the current loan employee of the [00:37:13] Office of New Americans, used to work at [00:37:15] Gateway Community Services. So this is [00:37:17] not just a random oneoff Medicaid [00:37:20] billing entity run by Somali migrants. [00:37:23] This is very politically connected [00:37:24] firms. So we started looking at Gateway [00:37:26] >> Gateway Community Services would is that [00:37:28] like an umbrella company for a large [00:37:30] network? [00:37:32] >> Yes and no under that. [00:37:35] >> It's a strange it's a strange entity. So [00:37:37] it's Gateway Community Services uh is a [00:37:40] migrant services agency. Um they [00:37:43] initially provide uh translation [00:37:46] services. They're founded in in 2013 [00:37:49] under the Leage administration and [00:37:51] Governor Leage was uh you know very [00:37:53] conservative Republican. Made welfare [00:37:55] fraud uh a huge priority investigating [00:37:58] welfare fraud. Had some successful [00:38:00] convictions. Actually most of I would [00:38:02] say all of the successful welfare fraud [00:38:04] or Medicaid fraud convictions of the [00:38:06] last 15 years stem from actions taken [00:38:09] when Leage was still governor. Anything [00:38:11] that happened when Mills was governor [00:38:12] was kind of a a carryover of measures [00:38:15] that Leage took such as the notice of [00:38:18] violation that we got our hands on. It [00:38:20] was an audit that had started under [00:38:22] Governor Leage looking at their billing [00:38:24] from 2015 and 2017. So this was, you [00:38:28] know, just kind of the inertia of a [00:38:29] process already begun continued on into [00:38:32] the Mills administration and we got our [00:38:34] hands on a record that showed that they [00:38:35] had an error rate of 35%. they couldn't [00:38:40] provide documents to substantiate [00:38:42] translation services that they'd offered [00:38:44] uh or um uh home health care services or [00:38:48] various services. And you know, anyone [00:38:50] who has worked in insurance fraud [00:38:52] investigation, you look at the things [00:38:53] that they're finding with Gateway and [00:38:55] you immediately say, "Oh, okay. So, [00:38:56] they're just making this up." Uh you [00:38:58] know, they're they're billing for [00:39:00] services that they haven't provided and [00:39:01] they can't document. And so, we we get [00:39:04] curious about this because we have this [00:39:06] leaked notice of violation and we want [00:39:08] to know what's happening. And obviously [00:39:09] the Mills administration won't answer [00:39:10] any questions about it. They won't tell [00:39:11] us, you know, did you did you what was [00:39:14] the resolution of this? Did you did you [00:39:16] finally figure out that they owed this [00:39:18] money? Did they pay it back? How did [00:39:19] they pay it back? Did they pay it back [00:39:21] through uh a lump sum or did they pay it [00:39:23] back through set aides? This is this is [00:39:26] a a great thing that we allow is if [00:39:29] you're a organization running a Medicaid [00:39:31] fraud in Maine and you get caught [00:39:32] defrauding the state government, they'll [00:39:33] allow you to pay it back through set [00:39:35] aides. So rather than just giving the [00:39:37] money back, you pay it back through a [00:39:39] five or a 10% haircut on your future [00:39:41] claims. So we're going to let you pay [00:39:43] back last year's fraud by a slight [00:39:46] deduction on next year's fraud. [00:39:48] >> That's allowed in the state under the [00:39:51] premise that we're assuming like all [00:39:52] these organizations are legitimate. You [00:39:54] know, we have to just assume that all [00:39:55] these organizations are are legitimate. [00:39:57] We have to bend over backwards to give [00:39:58] them the benefit of the doubt. Uh, but [00:40:00] that's where our investigation starts is [00:40:02] with this DHS audit that shows Gateway [00:40:06] Community Services was overbilling [00:40:08] Medicaid by a huge amount. They're a [00:40:10] politically connected firm uh and [00:40:13] they've got immense ties to the Mills [00:40:15] administration to Maine Democrats and [00:40:19] how are they tied? Well, we've [snorts] [00:40:20] got pictures of uh uh the CEO is [00:40:23] Abdulahi Ali, who uh is a um [00:40:28] he's an interesting figure as we'll get [00:40:30] into, but he's been at political events. [00:40:32] We've he we have photographs of him with [00:40:34] all kinds of political figures like [00:40:36] Governor Mills, Secretary of State [00:40:38] Chennabellos. Um they former employees [00:40:41] have gone on to be state lawmakers as we [00:40:44] just talked about Decad and Ysef Ysef. [00:40:46] Ecklas Ahmed is now in the uh the Mills [00:40:49] administration. Uh but the the closest [00:40:51] tie really is with um the Secretary of [00:40:55] State Chenabelloos in a group that um [00:40:58] Gateway Community Services formed called [00:41:00] the Community Organizing Alliance, which [00:41:02] was an explicitly political group that [00:41:05] had a fiscal sponsorship from the main [00:41:07] people's alliance, which is a your [00:41:09] typical Soros funded, you know, dark [00:41:11] money, left-wing push group, paid [00:41:13] protesters, paid activists, paid [00:41:14] doornockers, that kind of thing. Um, but [00:41:16] this kind of their political connections [00:41:19] get to the heart of the fraud scheme in [00:41:22] Maine because it was very much a [00:41:25] political scheme. You know, people ask, [00:41:28] do you see Somali who are making money [00:41:31] from home healthcare agencies or from [00:41:34] Gateway turning around and donating [00:41:35] money to the politicians? And it works a [00:41:38] little bit differently than that. [00:41:39] They're they're donating boots on the [00:41:41] ground and votes. And [00:41:42] >> I was just gonna say that they really [00:41:44] don't have to because if they're taking [00:41:46] over the population then [00:41:49] >> that's it. You just have to appease them [00:41:51] and they will always vote for you. And [00:41:53] you think [00:41:53] >> just like anybody else, you know, [00:41:55] >> you think that it has to be much bigger [00:41:58] than it like the population of voters [00:42:00] has to be much bigger than it really [00:42:02] does in order to get to the tipping [00:42:03] point because if you look right now in [00:42:05] Maine, uh where we have a Democratic [00:42:07] primary for governor, for the second [00:42:09] congressional district, and for [00:42:10] governor, um there's a huge Somali vote [00:42:14] in each of those races and almost [00:42:17] entirely, I mean 95% of those people [00:42:20] will be Democrat primary voters. So, if [00:42:22] you're running in a competitive Democrat [00:42:24] primary, your number one goal, perhaps [00:42:27] the most the the single most [00:42:28] determinative factor in those primary [00:42:30] elections will be who the Somali block [00:42:32] votes for because they're going to vote [00:42:34] in unison. They're going to vote [00:42:35] according to what the community leaders [00:42:37] or the gatekeepers say. And uh they're [00:42:40] going to vote for who's best for their [00:42:41] economic interests. They're not going to [00:42:43] vote for someone who takes a hard line [00:42:45] on fraud. [00:42:46] >> They're not going to vote for someone [00:42:47] who wants gateway investigated. So the [00:42:50] incentives in the Democrat primary right [00:42:51] now are to downplay the investigation to [00:42:54] stand with the very people who are [00:42:57] defrauding these programs as opposed to [00:43:00] what's in the best interest of mayors. [00:43:02] So that the incentive structure is set [00:43:04] up for the Democrat primary to nominate [00:43:07] the person who represents the Somali [00:43:09] interests as opposed to the interests of [00:43:11] even moderate Democrats. [00:43:13] >> Mhm. So that's you just have to get to [00:43:15] be a significant block of voters within [00:43:18] the Democratic primary and then you have [00:43:20] incredible control [00:43:22] >> is if you if you're if you're the one [00:43:24] who picks the nominee of the Democratic [00:43:25] party and then it's even a coin flip [00:43:27] that the Democrat wins the gubernatorial [00:43:30] election becomes the AG wins a [00:43:33] congressional election uh then they're [00:43:35] they know who's they know uh who [00:43:37] buttered their bread they know who to [00:43:39] take care of and that's what we've seen [00:43:41] in the Mills administration is that At a [00:43:44] minimum, you can say we they turned a [00:43:46] blind eye. They swept these audits under [00:43:49] the rug and they did not publicize them [00:43:52] in the way that these investigations [00:43:55] should have been publicized. They should [00:43:56] have been handled. Like, nobody nobody [00:43:59] would know that this was happening at [00:44:00] Gateway if we hadn't gotten those [00:44:02] notices of violation and publicized [00:44:04] them. Just this week, Governor Mills [00:44:05] comes out and says, "I support an [00:44:07] investigation into Gateway." None of [00:44:09] that would have happened. She wouldn't [00:44:10] have admitted it. the the records would [00:44:12] have never been produced by the people [00:44:14] doing the audits, by people who know [00:44:15] what's going on. None of it would have [00:44:17] happened if we didn't claw it out of the [00:44:20] establishment's hands and bring it in [00:44:22] today. [00:44:22] >> Before you [00:44:25] It's great. They're going to investigate [00:44:26] him. Do you think it will be a [00:44:28] legitimate investigation or will this be [00:44:31] [gasps] [00:44:33] is this a publicity stunt [00:44:35] >> for Governor Mills? It's a publicity [00:44:37] stunt. [00:44:37] >> Yes. [00:44:37] >> So, you don't think there will be a [00:44:39] legitimate investigation? [00:44:40] >> I think there will be. I think that the [00:44:41] the US attorney, Andrew Benson, will [00:44:43] conduct a legitimate investigation. I [00:44:45] think that that's he's Trump's nominee [00:44:47] for uh US attorney. He's been a judge [00:44:50] for uh a leage appointee. I think that I [00:44:53] mean, sorry. Yeah. Le page appointee. Um [00:44:55] I think that he's a man of integrity and [00:44:58] will do a legitimate investigation [00:44:59] there. Um the House Oversight Committee [00:45:01] will do a legitimate investigation there [00:45:03] and they can bring in people for [00:45:04] transcripted interviews. They can bring [00:45:06] people down to Washington DC for [00:45:08] interviews under oath. Um, there will be [00:45:10] an investigation, just not at the state [00:45:12] level. [00:45:12] >> Okay. [00:45:13] >> Maine is too far compromised to have a [00:45:16] legitimate investigation. I mean, [00:45:17] imagine this. So, [00:45:18] >> that's what I was getting at. I did not [00:45:20] realize it was federal. [00:45:21] >> Yeah. So, but but only it's only because [00:45:24] we were able to shake loose the secrets [00:45:27] of the welfare department that they even [00:45:29] know there's something to investigate [00:45:30] here. Uh but as a sign of just how far [00:45:33] gone things are in Maine, uh last [00:45:35] summer, Attorney General Attorney [00:45:37] General Aaron Fry, who's like u you [00:45:40] know, a nobody lawyer from Bangor, never [00:45:42] really done anything or had a successful [00:45:44] business, becomes AG under Mills because [00:45:46] he's going to be loyal to her and is [00:45:48] going to do what the governor wants as [00:45:49] opposed to having an adversarial system. [00:45:51] It's going to do what the governor [00:45:52] wants. We've reported now on the [00:45:55] overbilling at Gateway uh on the fact [00:45:58] that Gateway's CEO Abdullahi Ali was in [00:46:01] 2024 running for president of Jubiland [00:46:05] and admitting on Kenyan television [00:46:07] multiple times that he is using money [00:46:10] that he raised in the US to fund a [00:46:12] militia that he wants to use to [00:46:15] forcefully topple the incumbent [00:46:17] president Mado in Jubiland. So he's a [00:46:20] >> Holy [ __ ] [00:46:21] >> He's a warlord. [00:46:23] >> You can't say warlord. His his attorneys [00:46:25] say that's racist. [00:46:27] >> I said I said wannabe warlord. And they [00:46:29] they said in the letter that that was a [00:46:31] a racially tinged phrase, but I mean he [00:46:34] was like bragging about using the [00:46:36] militia he funded to topple the the [00:46:38] incumbent president. It feels warlordy. [00:46:41] Feels like warlords in play. [00:46:44] But so that's we've money has this [00:46:47] Gateway Community how how much of how [00:46:50] what are we looking at [00:46:53] >> purely on the Medicaid side through [00:46:56] Gateway Community Services LLC. We're [00:46:59] looking about 5 million per year in [00:47:01] Medicaid billing and Medicaid billing. [00:47:04] >> That's what they've that's what they [00:47:05] build. according to state spending [00:47:07] records that we've obtained. In addition [00:47:09] to that, they got another um over a [00:47:12] million in no bid contracts handed to [00:47:15] them from the Mills administration, [00:47:17] which are a very interesting part of [00:47:19] this story and get to I think part of [00:47:21] the reason why Gateway was allowed to [00:47:25] continue to uh you know exist and [00:47:27] operate the way they were operating. But [00:47:29] just to close the loop on the the you [00:47:32] know the Jubilean stuff. So he's running [00:47:35] for president in Jubiland. All this [00:47:36] money, the fraud accusations. We've [00:47:37] reported all this. This is all on the [00:47:40] record. Like the whistleblower has come [00:47:42] forward and said, "I was there for 5 and [00:47:44] a half years. Here's my name. I reported [00:47:46] this to the state auditor and never [00:47:48] heard back. I reported this to the [00:47:50] Department of Homeland Security under [00:47:52] Biden and never heard back." That was a [00:47:54] year before I met the guy. And so all [00:47:56] that's out in the public record. And in [00:47:58] the summer uh of last year, Aaron Fry, [00:48:02] the attorney general, who sits on uh in [00:48:04] charge of the opioid uh settlement [00:48:06] money, awards Gateway $400,000 through [00:48:10] their no their nonprofit arm. So, this [00:48:12] is a group that's been credibly accused [00:48:13] of running a systemic Medicaid fraud. [00:48:16] And we know that the head of the group [00:48:19] is, you know, trying to be a warlord in [00:48:21] Somalia. and the attorney general gives [00:48:23] them $400,000 in money that they, you [00:48:27] know, they claim is going to be used for [00:48:29] boofing kits essentially. It's like it's [00:48:31] like boofing kit money is what he sends [00:48:33] to them. And you know, these guys, [00:48:34] they're so bad. They're probably not [00:48:35] even buying boo. [00:48:36] >> Is that why there are a lot of boofing [00:48:37] kits up there in Maine? [00:48:38] >> It's good because they they smuggled all [00:48:40] the money to Somalia. [00:48:41] >> Yeah. [laughter] [00:48:42] >> Oh man. So that's the that that that's [00:48:45] who would be investigating Gateway and [00:48:48] and he declined to investigate them when [00:48:50] the initial allegations came out. [00:48:52] Instead, he gives him $400,000. So now [00:48:55] the governor comes out and says, "I [00:48:56] support an investigation." Well, you [00:48:59] know, I support the New England [00:49:00] Patriots. Great. You know, it's got [00:49:01] about the same effect on reality. You [00:49:03] know, it's it's just pure political [00:49:04] posturing. Nothing happens at the state [00:49:06] level. These people are going to have to [00:49:08] be dragged kicking and screaming to see [00:49:10] reality and have reality imposed upon [00:49:12] them. Uh and I think that the Trump [00:49:14] Justice Department will do that for some [00:49:16] of these for some of the most egregious [00:49:18] ones. Yes, they will do it. But the [00:49:20] fraud is so widespread and decentralized [00:49:24] and diverse that we just do not have a [00:49:27] justice department that can handle it. [00:49:28] You know, even if you put every single [00:49:30] one, every single fact on record and you [00:49:32] lined up every single uh defendant, all [00:49:35] the fraudsters, you lined them up and [00:49:36] put all the facts right out there in [00:49:38] public, which would be, you know, that's [00:49:39] circumventing an enormous amount of [00:49:41] investigative effort that is required to [00:49:43] do that. You still don't have the energy [00:49:45] to take all those cases, to process all [00:49:48] those criminal cases, to deal with the, [00:49:50] you know, the the defense attorney and [00:49:51] the prosecution going back and forth. We [00:49:53] just don't have the attorneys like [00:49:55] physically the people in those jobs with [00:49:57] the manh hours to prosecute these cases. [00:49:59] We don't have it. That's how big the [00:50:00] fraud is. And it's not just me saying [00:50:02] that. It's people high level people I've [00:50:04] talked with in the Trump White House [00:50:06] have said that that's what they're [00:50:07] that's the problem that they're dealing [00:50:08] with. That the problem the amount of [00:50:10] fraud is so staggeringly large. We just [00:50:13] can't deal with it with the the [00:50:16] mechanisms that we have in place to deal [00:50:18] with it like we have dealt with the [00:50:20] benefits fraud in the past. So, you're [00:50:22] going to have to come up with [00:50:24] uh things like ending the temporary [00:50:27] protected status for Somali. You're [00:50:28] going to have to cut off the money. [00:50:29] >> Do you think that's a legitimate excuse? [00:50:31] >> I do. From what I've shouldn't even [00:50:34] tackle any of it because all of it [00:50:37] >> you do. I don't think it's an excuse for [00:50:39] inaction. I'm not saying that at all. [00:50:41] I'm saying it's it's a motivation to [00:50:45] think creatively and come up with an [00:50:47] asymmetric response. [00:50:48] >> Okay. I think that you need to first the [00:50:51] first first thing I would do is one [00:50:53] every single governor in the state they [00:50:55] can cut off billing to any Medicaid [00:50:59] provider if there's been a credible [00:51:01] accusation of fraud. They don't need [00:51:03] charges. They don't need an audit. They [00:51:05] don't need uh you know like a criminal [00:51:06] finding. They don't need arrest. They [00:51:08] don't need any of that. All they need is [00:51:09] a credible accusation. That can be an [00:51:11] email that comes in and says you know I [00:51:12] think Sean's sketchy. Stop paying him [00:51:14] Medicaid money. the governor can say, [00:51:15] "All right, we're going to stop and [00:51:16] we're going to investigate and see [00:51:17] what's going on here." So, like right [00:51:19] now here, I'm making a credible [00:51:20] allegation. It's all fraudulent. Every [00:51:22] single state should stop billing to [00:51:24] every Medicaid provider and force them [00:51:26] to reenroll. Just force them to come and [00:51:28] and prove that they're legitimate. Every [00:51:31] hospital and doctor's office in America [00:51:33] can do this in 24 or 48 hours. They can [00:51:36] come to the the Department of Health and [00:51:38] Human Services and say, "Yeah, you know, [00:51:39] we're we're legitimate." But these, you [00:51:41] know, shady fly by night home healthcare [00:51:43] agencies that have popped up, you know, [00:51:45] three years ago and suddenly they're [00:51:47] building a million dollars, they won't [00:51:49] be able to do this. They won't want to [00:51:50] do this because they'll think that [00:51:52] there's criminal liability. They don't [00:51:54] want to turn, you know, show their face [00:51:55] around uh the the health office or [00:51:58] anywhere where there might be some [00:51:59] accountability. So, they're just going [00:52:01] to say, "Nope, we're going away." That's [00:52:03] going to end the funding. So you turn [00:52:04] off the money that's flowing into these [00:52:06] organizations without any kind of having [00:52:08] to go through the investigation or the [00:52:10] criminal process. But also if you're if [00:52:13] you're find if you're sending a half a [00:52:15] million a million 5 million to this home [00:52:16] healthcare agency and you stop dead and [00:52:20] then they never say anything [00:52:22] that's pretty good clue isn't it? [00:52:24] >> It's a pretty good clue about what's [00:52:25] happening and you never hear from [00:52:27] patients saying oh my healthcare has [00:52:29] been cut off. My vital healthcare [00:52:31] services that I rely on has been cut [00:52:32] off. That's a pretty good clue as to [00:52:33] what's happening. And that allows you to [00:52:35] further investigate. Only the ones who [00:52:38] are legitimate are going to come back in [00:52:39] and go through this reinrollment [00:52:40] process. And that could happen now. [00:52:43] Under existing law, every governor could [00:52:45] force these people to uh reenroll [00:52:48] through a more legitimate process. Um [00:52:50] they just have to exercise their power [00:52:52] to do it. [00:52:52] >> And if you say they can only I mean [00:52:55] I think I'm just going to play devil's [00:52:57] advocate. I mean, I think the [00:53:00] I shouldn't say I think that the [00:53:02] hesitation is the hesitation could be [00:53:04] maybe that you know that and I could [00:53:07] understand this if they if they cut one [00:53:10] off and [00:53:11] somebody dies, a condition gets worse, [00:53:15] they would probably held liable maybe. [00:53:18] >> I mean I mean how many how many people [00:53:20] are dying as a result of the stolen [00:53:23] benefits that could be spent better? How [00:53:24] many people are dying? [00:53:25] >> Tons. Tons. [00:53:26] >> Yeah. How many people are dying of the [00:53:27] economic desperation in my state [00:53:29] >> because they're they're being looted so [00:53:31] that uh you know Medicaid pirates can go [00:53:33] run for office in in Somalia. [00:53:35] >> Don't get me wrong. [00:53:38] I'm playing devil's advocate to your [00:53:39] devil's advocate. Yeah. But we're not [00:53:41] we're not talking though. We're not [00:53:42] talking about [00:53:43] >> but 24 hours. I mean if they [00:53:45] >> we're not talking about lifeaving [00:53:46] >> 24 hours. [00:53:47] >> We're not talking about life-saving [00:53:48] healthcare. We're talking about ass [00:53:50] wiping. [00:53:51] >> This is this is this is what these home [00:53:53] healthcare agencies do. This is [00:53:54] transportation translation. [00:53:56] >> Exactly. This is transportation [00:53:57] translation. Home healthcare agencies, [00:54:00] uh, SNAP benefits at the halal markets. [00:54:02] We're not talking about life-saving [00:54:03] care. No one's no one's no one's going [00:54:05] to shut off the, you know, Medicaid [00:54:07] reimbursement for cardiac surgeons, you [00:54:09] know, like these these any anyone [00:54:11] involved in life-saving care is going to [00:54:13] be a big enough organization so that a [00:54:15] temporary stop in Medicaid billing is [00:54:17] not going to [ __ ] the the [00:54:19] organization. Uh, they're going to be [00:54:21] able to reenroll very quickly. Uh and [00:54:23] you could even honestly if you wanted to [00:54:24] you could say okay we're not going to do [00:54:25] hospitals because the hospitals there's [00:54:27] a lot of funny business in American [00:54:28] hospitals but they're not the ones [00:54:30] submitting completely bogus claims. So [00:54:32] no one is going to die to the extent [00:54:34] that patients there are actual patients [00:54:36] at these home healthcare agencies. [00:54:38] They're the family of the person listed [00:54:40] as the CEO of the home healthcare [00:54:42] agency. They're allowed to do that. You [00:54:44] can start a home healthcare agency. And [00:54:47] the home healthcare agency, the [00:54:48] employees of a home healthcare agency go [00:54:50] to your home and they assist you with [00:54:52] the the tasks of daily living, which is [00:54:55] groceries, shower, um cleaning your [00:54:57] kitchen, wiping your butt, and you can [00:54:59] start a home healthcare agency. You can [00:55:02] hire your family, your cousins, and they [00:55:05] can also be patients of your home [00:55:08] healthare agency. So your home healthare [00:55:10] agency can be just a total family [00:55:12] operation with Medicaid money flowing in [00:55:15] both as a benefit to your family members [00:55:17] but also as the money that pays your [00:55:19] family members. We see this in the [00:55:20] notices of violation where the [00:55:22] investigators to the extent that they're [00:55:24] trying to figure out what's happened at [00:55:26] some of these home healthcare agencies [00:55:28] say like oh well was this person [00:55:30] receiving services from you know insert [00:55:33] home healthcare agency at the same time [00:55:35] that they were being paid to provide [00:55:37] these services. So it's even the even [00:55:40] the stuff that follows the rules looks [00:55:41] fraudulent from the an outside [00:55:43] perspective because these pro these [00:55:45] programs are almost designed to be [00:55:47] exploited and defrauded. But I don't I [00:55:49] don't think anyone's going to die if you [00:55:50] turn off the billing. No one [00:55:53] >> there will be and there's a good [00:55:55] >> I have to look for a legitimate excuse [00:55:58] on why they I'm just trying to think [00:56:00] like [00:56:00] >> Janet Mills did it legitimate. [00:56:02] >> Janet Mills did it to Gateway by the [00:56:04] way. She turned off the billing finally. [00:56:05] She did. [00:56:06] >> Yes. This was uh nine or 10 months after [00:56:09] we'd reported on it. The national media [00:56:10] firestorm kicks up and she just says um [00:56:13] you know it gets to 1.6 million is their [00:56:16] the amount that they've been you know [00:56:18] HHS has alleges that they've overbuild [00:56:21] according to their arcane audit process [00:56:23] which is a drastic underestimate of what [00:56:24] actually happened. But they she's shut [00:56:27] off their billing. So this is a this is [00:56:28] a mechanism that works. This is this is [00:56:31] not controversial. It's a way to protect [00:56:33] the integrity of the Medicaid system. [00:56:35] All you need is an allegation and you [00:56:37] can shut off billing. And so make the [00:56:40] allegations, folks. Uh go go go out [00:56:42] there and make the allegations. And [00:56:44] governors too can use that. In red [00:56:46] states, this fraud's happening there [00:56:47] too. You can use this authority um very [00:56:51] uh uh brazenly I would say to combat the [00:56:54] problem. But to your original point [00:56:56] about the how you how you deal with it [00:56:58] or the scope of the fraud, how we [00:57:00] prosecute people, it's such a massive [00:57:04] problem and so decentralized, you're [00:57:05] going to have to think asymmetrically. [00:57:08] And I think if you the more you [00:57:10] investigate this as a journalist or the [00:57:12] more the um law enforcement investigates [00:57:14] this, you find more and more these [00:57:16] connections to political actors [00:57:18] >> in Somalia or Central Africa. [snorts] [00:57:21] uh you find more and more uh that there [00:57:24] are highlevel political figures in [00:57:26] Somalia who are benefiting from this [00:57:28] scheme on the money transmission side on [00:57:30] the they have their own daycarees or [00:57:32] healthcare businesses in Minnesota or in [00:57:34] Maine and you can't help but view this [00:57:37] as a form of nation building for Somalia [00:57:40] but also economic terrorism against the [00:57:42] middle class in Maine in Minnesota. I [00:57:46] think this is economic terrorism and I [00:57:47] think it needs to be treated that way. [00:57:49] They are systematically defrauding the [00:57:52] American taxpayer at the nation state [00:57:55] level in order to build out their [00:57:57] country in Somalia. And it is economic [00:58:00] terrorism. And the victims are the [00:58:03] people who are dying of overdoses in [00:58:06] Lewon. The victims are the people who [00:58:08] those benefits could have been spent on. [00:58:11] The victims are the people in northern [00:58:13] rural Maine, the working-class people, [00:58:15] guys I went to high school with, who are [00:58:16] seeing, you know, half their paycheck go [00:58:18] away in taxes so that Abdul Lahi Ali can [00:58:22] drive a Mercedes and have an estate in [00:58:24] Kenya while he's running for warlord of [00:58:27] Jubiland. Like those are the victims of [00:58:29] the economic terrorism that the Medicaid [00:58:32] fraud is wreaking. And once you start [00:58:34] treating it like economic terrorism, it [00:58:36] becomes a national security problem. So [00:58:38] I think you need to unlock national [00:58:41] security level responses to stop the [00:58:43] fraud to prevent it from happening in [00:58:45] the future. And if you're ever going to [00:58:47] get some semblance of justice for what's [00:58:49] happened here, it has to be at the [00:58:52] national security level. There has to be [00:58:53] a kinetic response to remove this to [00:58:56] stop this. [00:58:57] >> Jeez. Did what happened to the the Lewon [00:59:01] shooting donations for the families? [00:59:03] >> This is this is [00:59:05] an unbelievable one. Yeah. I mean, it's [00:59:07] like [00:59:08] uh [00:59:09] >> how many people were killed? [00:59:10] >> 18. [00:59:11] >> 18 people were killed. [00:59:13] >> Makes your soul shudder uh to think [00:59:15] about the callousness of uh you know, I [00:59:18] guess the the what happened that night, [00:59:20] but also the people who seized on it and [00:59:23] took advantage of it in the aftermath. [00:59:26] So, the short version is uh the same [00:59:30] people who are defrauding the Medicaid [00:59:31] system came and looted the shooting [00:59:33] donations. um Somali NOS's came and and [00:59:38] were given uh money from the the money [00:59:41] that was raised for the victims. [00:59:43] >> Were the victims Somali? [00:59:45] >> No. [00:59:46] >> Well, then how do they get the money? [00:59:48] >> It's a very good question, Sean. It's a [00:59:50] question that the main I do. It's a [00:59:52] question that the main community [00:59:53] foundation won't answer. Um so, [00:59:56] >> just to set this up, there's [00:59:58] >> uh huge amount of money is raised after [01:00:01] the shooting. People from all over the [01:00:02] place are sending in money. Um they want [01:00:05] to help. There's an outpouring of [01:00:06] support in true American fashion. [01:00:08] There's a coming together of what can we [01:00:10] do to help these people. Yeah. [01:00:11] >> Uh people are sending money, you know, [01:00:13] checks made out to the city of Lewon, to [01:00:15] the Chamber of Commerce. GoFundMes are [01:00:17] popping up all over the place. There's [01:00:18] just a a ground swell of support to do [01:00:21] anything we can because these people, [01:00:23] you know, 18 people plus the the people [01:00:26] who were um wounded and survived, people [01:00:30] who have the um psychological or mental [01:00:33] um uh injuries from that night, still [01:00:35] dealing with therapy, the um families [01:00:39] that now are missing a caregiver and are [01:00:41] going to have to deal with the cost of [01:00:42] that child care um going forward. [01:00:45] there's an immense financial burden on [01:00:47] these people and people came out to say [01:00:49] how can we ameliate that how can we stop [01:00:51] that uh at some point because there was [01:00:55] so much money being raised through these [01:00:56] different funds there was a um decision [01:01:01] made to centralize everything with the [01:01:02] main community foundation this is a big [01:01:05] 501c3 organization they you know like [01:01:08] 600 million a year they manage money [01:01:10] they give out money they run charitable [01:01:12] multiple charitable purposes and do [01:01:14] grant giving this kind of what they do, [01:01:16] charitable giving. Um, so they seemed [01:01:18] like a natural person to a natural group [01:01:20] organization to bring legitimacy to the [01:01:24] financial uh the the donations rather [01:01:26] than having like GoFundMe here, GoFundMe [01:01:28] here. How the hell do you know if the [01:01:29] GoFundMe is actually getting where it's [01:01:30] supposed to go? Turns out those [01:01:32] GoFundMes might have been more [01:01:33] legitimate than [laughter] what the main [01:01:35] community foundation ended up doing. Uh, [01:01:37] this MCF, by the way, was blessed by the [01:01:39] Mills administration. you go to the the [01:01:42] Lewon shooting website that they put up [01:01:43] and it was like if you want to support [01:01:44] the the victims go here at the beginning [01:01:48] all the representations made by the main [01:01:50] community foundation were that 100% of [01:01:53] the money that was given is going to go [01:01:55] to the survivors and the victim's [01:01:57] families. [01:01:59] At some point there was this splintering [01:02:02] where they conceived of this idea of a [01:02:05] broad area recovery is what they called [01:02:07] it. Someone conceived uh of the idea [01:02:10] that you've raised I think it was like [01:02:12] $6.9 million. Well, some of that money [01:02:15] should go to NOS's. So, they split the [01:02:18] the funds and they they started treating [01:02:20] it like it was two separate funds. [01:02:22] >> Holy [ __ ] [01:02:24] >> They've never been very clear about how [01:02:28] those um payments were separated because [01:02:31] so much of the money came in before this [01:02:34] decision was made. A lot of it was just [01:02:36] like Chamber of Commerce, you know, [01:02:37] here's $100,000. Some company in Maine, [01:02:39] here's $100,000. [01:02:41] >> How How much money was there? [01:02:42] >> 6.9 million. [01:02:44] >> 6.9 million divided by 18 families. [01:02:50] >> Not that much. [01:02:51] >> Uh, no. Uh, it ended up being they they [01:02:55] came up with a pretty complex formula [01:02:56] for who would get the money. Um, and [01:03:01] there was a also a lot of private [01:03:02] charity, I'll say. like there were a lot [01:03:04] of um Maine employers stepped up and [01:03:06] covered the costs of their employees who [01:03:09] were wounded that night and survived. Um [01:03:12] the some of the hospitals in Maine did a [01:03:13] good job of basically saying like no, [01:03:15] you're not going to you're not going to [01:03:16] have medical costs as a result of this. [01:03:18] So there was a lot of private charity [01:03:20] that wasn't encompassed by the Maine [01:03:22] Community Foundation, but um 1.9 million [01:03:26] was set aside for these NOS's [01:03:29] and these organizations. This this 1.9 [01:03:33] million million was um allocated by a [01:03:37] steering committee the main community [01:03:39] foundation created which included at [01:03:42] least four uh NGO heads who steered [01:03:45] money to their own organizations. [01:03:49] >> So this is this is blooddrenched money [01:03:52] raised in the aftermath of Maine's worst [01:03:55] mass murder. And these these NGO heads, [01:03:58] most of them explicitly migrant NOS's, [01:04:02] many of them run by um you know, Somali [01:04:05] community leaders, saw it as an [01:04:07] opportunity to steer money into [01:04:10] their NOS's, their own NOS. There was no [01:04:13] conflict of interest policy. Somehow [01:04:15] this was just they were just allowed to [01:04:17] steer money to their own organizations, [01:04:18] which is just like gobsmacking, you [01:04:20] know, the level of, you know, the the [01:04:22] it's just heinous that they would even [01:04:24] think to do that. But then once you get [01:04:26] these members on the steering committee, [01:04:29] all these other little NOS's that are [01:04:31] kind of related and they have the same [01:04:32] office building, some of them are in the [01:04:35] Gateway Community Services office [01:04:36] building. By the way, Gateway Community [01:04:38] Services is on the steering committee. [01:04:40] Gateway Community Services steers. [01:04:42] >> Yeah. [01:04:44] >> They're nonprofit. They have a 501c3 [01:04:46] filing that's, you know, basically the [01:04:48] same thing. just allows them to take [01:04:49] money like the Lewon shooting money [01:04:51] that's only available to 501c3s or [01:04:53] government money that's only available [01:04:55] to 51c3s. But Nathan Davis, who is the [01:04:57] son of state senator Jill Ducson, is the [01:05:00] he runs the nonprofit arm of Gateway [01:05:02] Community Services. He's on the steering [01:05:04] committee. He steers money to Gateway [01:05:06] Community Services from the Lewis and [01:05:08] Shooting Fund. 60 they each of these [01:05:09] NGOs's got over $65,000 [01:05:13] and there were uh a ton of them. [01:05:15] Actually, Ian Osman, who was the Lewon [01:05:19] city councelor who just resigned. He's [01:05:21] facing two gun theft charges. Uh he also [01:05:24] faced allegations that he lied on his [01:05:26] campaign finance documents to pretended [01:05:29] he lived in the Somali district in Lewon [01:05:31] to run for city council and won. Didn't [01:05:33] live there cuz the building he listed [01:05:35] was an uninhabitable condemned building [01:05:37] owned by his brother. Uh and then after [01:05:40] his election, he was charged with uh a [01:05:42] grand jury indicted him with two um gun [01:05:45] theft charges. Uh and then he lied on [01:05:47] his bond documents saying that he lived [01:05:49] at that address again. Uh and then [01:05:51] resigned after that. And I don't know if [01:05:52] the I don't know if the Lewon police [01:05:54] have been able to find him for a bail [01:05:56] check yet. Um but he ran the Lewon [01:05:59] Auburn Youth Foundation. Oh [01:06:02] >> Lewon Auburn Youth Foundation got [01:06:04] $65,000 [01:06:06] from the Lewon shooting money. So, we [01:06:08] actually took we took money raised for [01:06:10] victims of Maine's worst mass shooting [01:06:12] and gave it to multiple people actually [01:06:15] who had been or would be indicted for [01:06:17] gun crimes. [01:06:20] And again, I mean, the list goes on and [01:06:21] on of the Somali organizations that held [01:06:24] their hand out for Lewon shooting money. [01:06:27] And I talked with I actually for my [01:06:30] Substack I interviewed four um victims, [01:06:34] survivors, family members who were there [01:06:37] that night, including um a woman who was [01:06:40] shot multiple times and uh was still [01:06:44] dealing with the consequences of that. [01:06:46] And she talked about having medical [01:06:49] bills like $85,000. [01:06:52] At the same time, she's learning that [01:06:53] the Lewon Auburn Youth Foundation got [01:06:57] $65,000, that generational noir got [01:07:00] $65,000, that Gateway Community Services [01:07:02] got $65,000, that the Somali uh Bantto [01:07:05] Association got $65,000, [01:07:07] that uh you know, the IFKA situ uh you [01:07:10] know, AK Health and Human Services, like [01:07:12] all these Somali organizations, which [01:07:14] some of them don't even exist anymore. [01:07:15] Some of them maybe never existed, some [01:07:17] of them are just like Facebook groups. [01:07:19] It's unclear. Uh none of them have given [01:07:22] the money back. But like you see these [01:07:24] women are these victims are like why did [01:07:27] the main community foundation give the [01:07:29] money that was raised based on our [01:07:31] suffering to these Somali NGOs's that [01:07:34] did nothing nothing. They're not even [01:07:37] pretending now that they did anything [01:07:40] for the victims. [01:07:42] And it's [01:07:43] >> so [ __ ] infuriating because the [01:07:46] governor won't acknowledge it. A.G. Fry [01:07:48] says that he's looked into it. It's [01:07:50] everything was done on the level. [01:07:51] There's nothing for a criminal [01:07:52] investigation. The the mayor of Lewon [01:07:55] won't acknowledge it. Nobody on the [01:07:57] establishment is saying that there's [01:07:59] something wrong with this. And I mean, [01:08:00] God bless Governor Leage. He grew up in [01:08:04] Lewon, was like poor and homeless in [01:08:05] Lewon. Didn't even speak English until [01:08:07] he was 11, French speakaking. And he [01:08:10] came in having just uh, you know, lost [01:08:13] an effort to become governor again. He [01:08:16] came to Lewon. He raised a half million [01:08:18] dollars. Somehow he figured out how to [01:08:20] give that all to the shooting victims. [01:08:23] Doesn't seem like rocket science. [01:08:25] >> No kidding. [01:08:25] >> Seems like, you know, that someone a [01:08:27] victim comes with a medical bill. You I [01:08:29] mean, you create a trust, create a [01:08:30] trust, have a trustee, victim has a [01:08:32] medical bill, you pay it. [01:08:34] >> Why do you have to have a steering panel [01:08:36] formed of all these, you know, [01:08:39] progressive hard leftists and Somali [01:08:41] immigrant activists? [01:08:44] >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean what how do you get [01:08:46] that money back? But the the the big [01:08:50] picture takeaway of that is if you have [01:08:53] gotten to the point as a Somali NGO head [01:08:58] where you're okay showing up, you know, [01:09:01] stepping over the dead bodies of mayors [01:09:03] who have just been gunned down and [01:09:05] taking $65,000 for a charity. [01:09:08] Medicaid fraud is not that big of a [01:09:10] deal, is it? Right. If you're willing to [01:09:12] do that. [01:09:13] No, [01:09:14] >> of course you of course you just send an [01:09:15] invoice to the Department of Health and [01:09:17] Human Services. And I'll say that the a [01:09:20] lot of this has only reached the level [01:09:23] of attention that it has because Amy [01:09:26] Susman, whose nephew Max Hatheraway was [01:09:28] killed that night, has just been a [01:09:31] bulldog on it. Just been like [01:09:34] uh [01:09:35] unsleeping advocate for the victims and [01:09:38] their families. [01:09:39] >> Good for her. and has chased the main [01:09:41] community foundation to the ends of the [01:09:42] earth to try to get some kind of change, [01:09:45] some kind of justice. Uh, and so far the [01:09:47] main community foundation just thinks [01:09:49] that they can stick their heads in the [01:09:51] sand that they've got enough money they [01:09:52] can wait this out that there uh aren't [01:09:57] some serious questions about their [01:09:58] integrity uh and their how they handled [01:10:01] this. Um, you know, a lot of the [01:10:03] organizations that they gave money to [01:10:05] through the Lewis and Shooting Fund were [01:10:06] organizations that they had previously [01:10:08] given money to and had previous [01:10:09] relationships with. Um, they haven't [01:10:11] really said anything about how they're [01:10:13] going to rethink the way they handle [01:10:16] charitable giving through the [01:10:17] foundation. I can tell you though that [01:10:19] there's, you know, 70 80% of the state [01:10:22] are going to be rethinking their [01:10:24] relationship with the main community [01:10:26] foundation if they had one. [01:10:29] >> Yeah, I'll bet. [ __ ] up. That story, [01:10:31] >> dude. [01:10:32] >> So many national reporters, my friends [01:10:34] in the national media. I've gotten text [01:10:35] messages over the last three weeks being [01:10:37] like, "Did this really happen?" Like, [01:10:39] like Gateway actually like took Lewon [01:10:41] shooting money. Like am I in Osman got [01:10:44] Lewon shooting money? Yeah. And again, [01:10:47] this is when we we reported on this 18 [01:10:49] months ago. We report on this when it [01:10:51] happened. [01:10:53] >> Nothing. [01:10:54] >> Nothing. Nothing. that actually the [01:10:56] mainstream outlets, the corporate [01:10:57] outlets in Maine came in and reported on [01:11:00] it and said, "No, the AG says everything [01:11:02] was fine. All these are upstanding [01:11:04] NOS's. What are you talking about?" MCF, [01:11:06] Main Community Foundation, they gave us [01:11:08] a statement and they said that they they [01:11:10] everything that they did was above [01:11:12] board. So why would you question the [01:11:14] statement that the main community [01:11:15] foundation has put out? Like we we've [01:11:17] checked this out. All the mainstream [01:11:19] outlets just gave them a a gave it a [01:11:21] good leaving. Not even a not even a [01:11:23] leaving alone. They gave it like the [01:11:25] stamp of approval that they [01:11:28] delegitimized Amy Susman's complaints. [01:11:31] They delegitimized Governor Le Page's [01:11:32] complaints. Any of the victims, their [01:11:35] family members who were concerned about [01:11:37] where the money went, the mainstream [01:11:40] media came in and said, "These people [01:11:42] are just fringe wackos." Like, don't pay [01:11:44] attention to, you know, the fact that [01:11:45] they're dealing with five figure medical [01:11:47] bills while Abdulah Ali is cashing [01:11:51] $65,000 checks. Don't pay attention to [01:11:53] that. [01:11:54] >> They're dead. [01:11:55] >> Yeah, [01:11:57] >> man. [01:12:01] This stuff is just so infuriating. [01:12:03] >> Yeah, [01:12:06] let's take a break. [01:12:10] Investing shouldn't feel like a gamble. [01:12:12] With Stash's smart portfolio, your [01:12:15] money's guided by experts, giving you [01:12:17] peace of mind while it grows. Stash [01:12:19] isn't just another investing app. It's a [01:12:21] registered investment advisor that [01:12:23] combines automated investing with expert [01:12:26] personalized guidance so you don't have [01:12:28] to worry about gambling or figuring it [01:12:30] out on your own. Stash is simple, smart, [01:12:33] and stress-free. You can choose from [01:12:35] personalized investment. 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You're [01:14:20] going to get first dibs on new merch [01:14:22] drops and limited edition items that [01:14:24] will never be sold again, plus exclusive [01:14:28] offers from our partners you won't find [01:14:30] anywhere else. So, subscribe to the [01:14:32] Vigilance Elite newsletter right now. [01:14:40] All right, Steve, we're back from the [01:14:42] break and uh [01:14:45] man, the [ __ ] gets heavy. But uh you've [01:14:47] described the migrant services industry [01:14:49] as a Ponzi scheme. [01:14:52] How so? [01:14:54] In order to continue to operate, you [01:14:57] need a constant flow of migrants. You [01:14:58] know, a Ponzi scheme, you you're paying [01:15:01] your old investors with new money coming [01:15:03] in. um you need a new flow of migrants [01:15:06] in order for the migrant services [01:15:08] industry to stay afloat. So eventually [01:15:10] the migrants who come in, they learn [01:15:13] English, hopefully they become [01:15:14] assimilated and they no longer rely on [01:15:17] 501c3s, NOS's, uh the Office of New [01:15:21] Americans, they no longer need these. So [01:15:23] if you have, you know, if you speak [01:15:24] English and you're assimilated, you [01:15:25] don't need the Office of New Americans. [01:15:26] You can use all the offices that the old [01:15:29] Americans are using. Mhm. [01:15:30] >> Uh what we see in Maine is a pattern [01:15:35] where the first generation of arrivals, [01:15:39] the first wave of whether it's Somali [01:15:42] migrants or West African migrants or [01:15:45] central African [01:15:45] >> what is h is it a program? What's going [01:15:48] on? [clears throat] [01:15:49] >> I mean this is this is a little [01:15:50] different than people coming up through [01:15:52] the southern border. How are they [01:15:54] getting here? I mean this is a country [01:15:56] with extreme poverty. [01:15:57] >> Yeah. How how can they even afford an [01:16:00] airline ticket to get to the US? [01:16:03] >> How's this happening? [01:16:04] >> I assume you've seen Blackhawk Down. [01:16:06] >> Oh, yeah. [01:16:06] >> Yeah. So, the that's kind of where it [01:16:09] starts. Multipolar civil war in Somalia [01:16:11] in the '90s. Madness. Families fighting [01:16:14] families, clans fighting clans. Uh just [01:16:17] total anarchy. And that creates a uh the [01:16:21] the I guess the pretense for mass [01:16:24] migration or uh asylum seeker refugee [01:16:27] migration from Somalia into the United [01:16:30] States and they come into Atlanta. [01:16:32] Atlanta's a big uh Delta port and then [01:16:35] >> that that was wasn't that all that was [01:16:37] back in 93, right? [01:16:38] >> Yeah. their their temporary protected [01:16:40] status has endured until Trump just shut [01:16:42] it down from that from that moment until [01:16:46] when Trump decided uh this week to to [01:16:49] end that it's endured and the level of [01:16:51] migration has if anything increased and [01:16:55] what what you see happening is it's a [01:16:57] program at first yes there is a [01:16:59] deliberate effort to resettle the uh [01:17:03] Somali refugees by groups like Catholic [01:17:05] Charities so Catholic Charities makes a [01:17:08] huge amount of money moving people uh [01:17:11] migrants around to places in the country [01:17:14] that don't necessarily vote to have that [01:17:17] happen. [01:17:17] >> You might, by one lens, you might [01:17:20] consider Catholic Charities to be a [01:17:21] human trafficking organization because [01:17:23] that's what they do. They get paid, they [01:17:24] make huge amounts of money to take [01:17:26] people who've crossed the border [01:17:27] illegally and distribute them throughout [01:17:29] the United States. [01:17:30] >> This is great, Steve. I'm Catholic. [01:17:33] >> Well, I didn't know this. [01:17:34] >> Well, good for you. Catholic Charities [01:17:35] doesn't really have anything to do with [01:17:36] being Catholic. It's just a a nonprofit [01:17:39] that makes a ton of money and has some [01:17:41] kind of affiliation with the Catholic [01:17:42] Church. But the Lutheran do this as [01:17:45] well. There's tons of organizations that [01:17:47] are in this migrant resettlement [01:17:49] business and they cloak it in. [01:17:52] >> How big is the business? [01:17:54] >> Billions. [01:17:54] >> Billions of dollars. [01:17:55] >> Billions. I mean, tens of billions of [01:17:57] dollars. I mean, during the Biden [01:17:58] administration, the amount of money that [01:18:00] was dumped into these it I mean, it [01:18:02] starts to be mind-numbing [01:18:05] uh uh amounts of money that are dumped [01:18:06] on these organizations and it's to take [01:18:10] and process migrants who cross the [01:18:12] border and fly them, distribute them to [01:18:15] little communities like the the [01:18:16] Springfield, Ohio. You know, those [01:18:19] 15,000 Haitians don't just show up in [01:18:20] Springfield, Ohio. That's coordinated by [01:18:22] NOS's that have huge amounts of [01:18:24] government money. That's what happened [01:18:25] in Maine beginning in the early 2000. [01:18:29] You have uh organizations are relocating [01:18:34] the Somali refugees from Atlanta to [01:18:36] Portland and eventually from Portland [01:18:38] they figure out that Lewon has more [01:18:40] vacant large family housing to [01:18:42] accommodate the families that are moving [01:18:44] there. And from 2000 to 2003 you've got [01:18:46] maybe 300 Somali who are in Lewon [01:18:49] proper. And eventually once you form [01:18:52] that little bit of community, they're I [01:18:55] mean Somalies are like anybody. You go [01:18:57] to another country, you want to be with [01:18:58] people who speak your language. They can [01:19:00] help you figure out the lay of the land. [01:19:02] they can help you uh you know figure out [01:19:04] how to be, how to exist and um you start [01:19:08] to create a magnet and a draw for other [01:19:11] Somali who are fleeing the civil war and [01:19:14] they want to come and they want to be [01:19:15] with people who are like them, people [01:19:17] who have gone through this experience of [01:19:18] arriving in America before because it's [01:19:21] more comfortable. It helps them. It's a [01:19:22] natural human thing. You can understand [01:19:24] that. But once you get to that level of [01:19:26] um a diaspora or a refugee settlement [01:19:29] within your American city, it becomes [01:19:31] its own draw. And when you add to that a [01:19:34] very easy, generous benefit system, [01:19:37] which is what Maine initially had, was a [01:19:40] level of general assistance, which is a [01:19:42] welfare program administered by the [01:19:44] cities. And then you have the SNAP, [01:19:47] TAMP, EBT cards that are administered by [01:19:49] the state, funded by the federal [01:19:51] government. Uh, and then you have [01:19:52] Medicaid, which is the big healthcare [01:19:54] benefit. You have all these benefit [01:19:55] programs that kind of wrap around and [01:19:58] surround a Somali refugee once they [01:20:00] arrive in Maine. And then you have the [01:20:01] free housing. Uh, it becomes why would [01:20:04] you go to Texas? You know, if you're a [01:20:06] Somali refugee who just shows up, why [01:20:07] would you go to Texas or Tennessee? Why [01:20:09] would you go to any of those states when [01:20:11] you know you've got family, you've got [01:20:12] cousins, you've got friends, hundreds of [01:20:14] them in Maine, and they've already got [01:20:16] the forms printed out for you. Actually, [01:20:18] my my friend I met uh Abdi Eftton who's [01:20:21] a Somali author. He lives in Maine and [01:20:24] he wrote a book that was super [01:20:26] pro-American. He lived through the civil [01:20:29] war and he uh talks about having arrived [01:20:33] in Maine as a refugee and being given [01:20:36] these forms. It was just like a matter [01:20:38] of like intake processing. As a Somali, [01:20:40] you show up and they give you the free [01:20:42] housing forms, welfare forms. [01:20:43] >> Did he get here through one of the [01:20:44] NOS's? [01:20:46] >> How did he get here? He has a he has a [01:20:47] complicated story in that he he was he [01:20:50] grew up in Moadishu and uh his family [01:20:53] attempted to flee and came back because [01:20:56] they where there's no nowhere to flee [01:20:58] to. So he kind of lived through this [01:21:01] chaos and anarchy and eventually um [01:21:04] hooked up with a BBC reporter um or an [01:21:06] NPR reporter and started doing reports [01:21:09] for NPR on this like little tin cell [01:21:12] phone basically. So he had an experience [01:21:14] of journalism giving these reports and a [01:21:16] little community developed in America [01:21:18] like team team Abdi essentially uh who [01:21:21] were reading his reports from the front [01:21:22] lines of Mogadishu from like his [01:21:24] cultural perspective cuz he spoke [01:21:25] English cuz he he learned English [01:21:27] watching um Schwarzenegger and Stallone [01:21:29] bootlegs in Moadishu. Uh and [01:21:34] so his process was a little bit more it [01:21:36] wasn't part of this mass migration. he [01:21:38] ended up getting a ticket in the um [01:21:40] diversity lottery after he'd snuck into [01:21:42] Kenya or you know traveled into Kenya. [01:21:46] So he did he wasn't a part of the you [01:21:49] know the mass migration pipeline that a [01:21:51] lot of them come through and he came [01:21:53] here illegally. Uh but he talks about [01:21:55] this culture which he's he's called out [01:21:58] and has faced death threats from his own [01:22:00] community like torrent torrents of death [01:22:04] threats because he's got a huge Tik Tok [01:22:05] following and he reports on he calls out [01:22:08] fraud and he reports on what's happening [01:22:09] with Somali in America to 800,000 Tik [01:22:12] Tok followers and that's the biggest [01:22:13] social [01:22:13] >> he is a Somali. [01:22:14] >> Yes. What's his What's his account [01:22:16] handle? [01:22:16] >> Uh, Somali Cowboy. [01:22:19] >> Somali Cowboy. I got to [01:22:21] >> Yeah, you won't be able I I He doesn't [01:22:24] do very many posts in uh English. He [01:22:26] does Somali language posts and he's done [01:22:30] some of some of the interviews I've done [01:22:31] with him, some podcasts that I've done [01:22:32] with him. He posts [01:22:34] >> guess I better brush up on my Somali. [01:22:36] you will [01:22:37] >> or whatever they [laughter] [01:22:39] >> um but uh his perspective has been [01:22:42] really really interesting as a a member [01:22:46] of the Somali diaspora, a genuine [01:22:48] refugee who didn't take that turn down [01:22:52] the path to government benefits and [01:22:56] really embraced embraced assimilation. [01:22:59] >> He made it. [01:23:00] >> He made it. [01:23:00] >> He came here and he worked his ass off [01:23:02] and he made it. [01:23:03] >> Yeah. And he works in he does [01:23:04] translation. He wrote a a book that sold [01:23:06] a ton of copies and um you know he now [01:23:09] he works as a writer and a journalist [01:23:10] and a translator. [01:23:11] >> So he you guys work pretty close [01:23:13] together and he gives he fills in the [01:23:15] blanks. [01:23:16] >> Yeah, we have we have become um because [01:23:18] he he actually reached out as part of [01:23:20] some of our reporting on um the Medicaid [01:23:23] fraud. And so there's an interesting [01:23:26] there's an interesting event that ties [01:23:27] into a lot of this. [01:23:28] >> This would be that would be an [01:23:29] interesting interview. Could me can you [01:23:30] connect me to him? [01:23:31] >> Absolutely. That would be that would be [01:23:33] very interesting. [01:23:34] >> Abdi's seen some dark [ __ ] [01:23:36] >> I bet he has. [01:23:37] >> You should listen to his uh his audio [01:23:39] book. It's like [01:23:41] >> that's when I wanted to interview him is [01:23:42] after I listened to his life story, I [01:23:44] was like, "Wow, you are remarkably [01:23:45] upbeat and happy for this the [ __ ] that [01:23:48] you've lived through." But uh uh part of [01:23:51] part of this story is we're looking [01:23:54] through 2024 financial disclosures for [01:23:56] all of the lawmak state lawmakers and we [01:23:59] see that representative Deca Daik, a [01:24:01] Somali refugee, big figure in this [01:24:03] story, mayor of South Portland, now uh [01:24:06] on the appropriations committee, pretty [01:24:08] uh powerful, influential figure in the [01:24:10] main Democratic party. She took this [01:24:12] weird trip to Azerban. [01:24:15] It's kind of weird. Paid for by the [01:24:16] Azeria government. Okay. and [01:24:19] representative Mana Abdi also uh uh [01:24:22] representative from Lewon also Somali [01:24:24] took this weird trip to Asher Bjon and [01:24:27] we keep looking through these financial [01:24:29] disclosures and we see that Senator Jill [01:24:32] Duen whose um uh son Nathan uh Davis is [01:24:37] works at Gateway Community Services. She [01:24:39] was also on that trip. And we start [01:24:41] looking for other information about it [01:24:43] and we find this torrent of Facebook [01:24:45] pictures and Abdullah Ali is on that [01:24:48] trip, the CEO of Gateway Community [01:24:50] Services who later in the year after [01:24:52] this trip to Asherban would be running [01:24:55] for warlord of Jubila Jubiland with he [01:24:58] said uh a militia that he financed with [01:25:02] money that he raised in the United [01:25:04] States. Uh, also on that trip was Tarlon [01:25:07] Amadov, an uh, Azeri official who'd come [01:25:10] to Maine, worked for Catholic Charities, [01:25:12] and was running the office of new [01:25:14] Americans for Governor Mills. Um, [01:25:18] >> the Office of New Americans. [01:25:19] >> Yeah. If it sounds or Orwellian, it's [01:25:21] because it is. Uh, it's a it's just a [01:25:24] migrant resettlement office. It's about [01:25:27] helping [01:25:28] >> helping that pipeline that Abdi didn't [01:25:30] go down. It's about facilitating. It's a [01:25:32] it's a like a [01:25:34] >> super highway to welfare independency [01:25:37] and being a controlled voting block for [01:25:40] the progressive left and for like the [01:25:41] the permanent government interests. [01:25:44] >> But we we see this this junket that like [01:25:46] why is the Azeri government paying these [01:25:49] people from Maine who really have really [01:25:52] seriously when you think about it not [01:25:53] that much power? You know what's [ __ ] [01:25:55] crazy, man? Is [01:25:59] this is all orchestrated and it sounds [01:26:01] like what you're saying is the voting [01:26:02] block is a big thing and you know [01:26:08] why don't they just do what the citizens [01:26:12] vote them in to do. [01:26:16] >> Maybe they are [01:26:16] >> so that they can get voted back in [01:26:18] instead of going rogue and then just [01:26:20] [ __ ] importing voting blocks. Like [01:26:24] what what [01:26:25] >> it's less profitable [01:26:26] >> because they wouldn't be able to be I [01:26:28] mean I just [01:26:28] >> you don't get the you don't get the the [01:26:30] all expenses paid junkets to Turkey and [01:26:32] Azure Bjan if you're [01:26:33] >> you don't get to participate in the [01:26:35] corruption. [01:26:36] >> Yeah. You know, I mean, there's I I [01:26:38] can't think of any legitimate reason why [01:26:40] the this huge cohort of main law [01:26:43] lawmakers, by the way, Ecklas Ahmed, the [01:26:46] policy researcher at the Office of New [01:26:48] Americans, she was also on this junket, [01:26:49] and so was uh Cumberland County probate [01:26:52] judge Paul Aronson kind of sticks out in [01:26:55] that dynamic. Uh they're all on this [01:26:58] junket to Azure Bjan. We can't really [01:27:00] figure it out. None of them want to talk [01:27:01] to us about it. and we start reporting [01:27:03] on it and eventually we discover Tarlon [01:27:04] Amadov has this long history of wildly [01:27:08] anti-Armenian statements like posting [01:27:10] the kind of things about Armenians that [01:27:13] would uh you know if you post about you [01:27:15] know Jews or any other ethnic group [01:27:16] you're just going to be drumed out of [01:27:18] polite society and eventually he is [01:27:19] fired from the being the director of the [01:27:21] office of new Americans but um this kind [01:27:24] of ties into the gateway story it's this [01:27:26] weird junket like why are they going to [01:27:27] Azure Bjon why does it happen right [01:27:30] before right while [01:27:32] Abdulahi Ali is saying he wants to raise [01:27:35] money for munitions and troops in [01:27:38] Jubiland. Uh and then he's, you know, he [01:27:40] loses his election eventually. But it's [01:27:42] this weird geopolitical game that [01:27:44] they're playing with American taxpayer [01:27:47] dollars has nothing to do with what's [01:27:49] best for Mayers, with what's best for [01:27:50] people in Louis. [01:27:52] >> You know, we actually looked up the [01:27:53] trade with Azure Bashan in Maine just [01:27:55] because we thought maybe there's some [01:27:57] niche like toothpick industry or [01:27:59] something. You know, trees are getting [01:28:01] exported from Maine to Azure Bjon. It's [01:28:03] like $60,000 a year in trade between [01:28:05] Maine and Azure Bjon is nothing. It's [01:28:07] like there's no plausible reason. So, [01:28:09] what other game are you playing sending [01:28:12] this huge delegation of all these people [01:28:13] who have ties to Gateway Community [01:28:15] Services credibly accused of running [01:28:17] this elaborate Medicaid fraud for 5 and [01:28:18] a half years and then you're running, [01:28:20] you know, for for president of a [01:28:22] foreign, you know, uh, territory. It's [01:28:26] just so far removed from what the [01:28:28] government of the state of Maine should [01:28:30] be doing. And it's like I'm, you know, [01:28:32] I'm a Maine reporter. Why the [ __ ] [01:28:34] should I have to know about Jubiland or [01:28:35] or or these these elaborate games that [01:28:38] they're playing uh with our money? Uh [01:28:41] this is, you know, another part of of [01:28:44] the uh I guess the scheme that was being [01:28:46] cooked up that kind of orbits Gateway [01:28:49] because we talked earlier about the [01:28:52] um the amount of money that's flowing to [01:28:54] them purely on the Medicaid side, you [01:28:56] know, about $5 million a year for [01:28:58] translation services, personal support [01:29:01] services, which is again wiping asses. [01:29:03] Maybe they're wiping asses, maybe [01:29:05] they're just saying that they wipe asses [01:29:06] and billing the state for it. Um, but [01:29:09] they also, you start to look at the [01:29:11] businesses that are in and around the [01:29:14] addresses where Gateway has its [01:29:16] headquarters. There's one on Canal [01:29:18] Street in Lewon, which is right in [01:29:20] Little Moadishu, and there's one in kind [01:29:23] of rundown area of Portland on Forest A. [01:29:27] And you look at the other businesses [01:29:29] that are registered at these locations [01:29:31] and you start to see, geez, why are [01:29:32] there so many home healthcare agencies [01:29:35] registered right at the same office as [01:29:38] Gateway? Why is there this weird [01:29:40] transportation company registered right [01:29:43] at the same place as Gateway? Why are [01:29:45] there these, you know, explicitly [01:29:47] political NOS's registered at the same [01:29:50] address at both the same addresses? This [01:29:53] is like the It sounds like the exact [01:29:55] same footprint as Minnesota. [01:29:57] >> Yes, it is. [01:29:58] >> How How many states do you think this is [01:30:00] happening in? [01:30:01] >> To a greater or lesser degree, all of [01:30:03] them. I mean, [01:30:05] >> Medicaid is such a I mean, that's the [01:30:07] program we're talking about is Medicaid [01:30:09] is being defrauded at a scale you just [01:30:11] you can't even imagine. [01:30:13] >> I'm talking just [01:30:15] >> Somali fraud. [01:30:16] >> Just Somali fraud. [01:30:17] >> Somali fraud. Um, uh, definitely Ohio, [01:30:21] uh, um, Ohio, Minnesota, New York, [01:30:24] Massachusetts, Maine, uh, probably [01:30:27] Georgia. Um, but you know, I I'm not [01:30:32] >> I'm just Yeah, I'm a main reporter, but [01:30:33] I would say uh any state where you've [01:30:37] had the combination of a um a set aart [01:30:42] refugee minority has come in and you [01:30:44] have a establishment Democrat um you [01:30:47] know political co coalition has [01:30:50] leveraged them for their own political [01:30:51] gain. you'll see this because this is [01:30:54] what happened is the it was never baked [01:30:56] in the cake that the Somali who arrived [01:30:59] in Maine were going to become fraudsters [01:31:02] or in Minnesota. It was never that was [01:31:04] never, you know, predestined. I've seen, [01:31:08] you know, a lot of people who I guess [01:31:10] like talk disparagingly [01:31:13] as if like that's the only thing. [01:31:14] >> How do we [ __ ] get them into jobs? [01:31:16] >> They a lot of them are. You know what I [01:31:18] mean? A lot of them are. Why? Why is [01:31:19] there no why is it always a [ __ ] [01:31:21] pathway to to welfare? Why is there [01:31:24] never a pathway to success? I mean, when [01:31:27] you pull somebody out of a country like [01:31:29] that, I don't know if you've ever been [01:31:30] to a [ __ ] third world country like [01:31:32] Somalia, but when you when you pull some [01:31:36] they'll do anything to get out of that [01:31:37] [ __ ] but I mean, if you [01:31:41] and they're still going to [ __ ] vote [01:31:43] for you because you pulled them out of [01:31:45] that. [01:31:46] So yeah, [01:31:47] >> like why why is it why is it the [01:31:50] commonality? Why is it just a pathway a [01:31:52] funnel to welfare? [01:31:55] It makes no sense to me. Like it just [01:31:58] destroys our [ __ ] country. People on [01:32:01] welfare like that's that that should be [01:32:04] a temporary fix for Americans. [01:32:08] Not. You shouldn't live your entire life [01:32:10] on welfare, especially if you're a [01:32:12] [ __ ] immigrant [01:32:14] >> or you shouldn't. [01:32:15] >> I mean, they work their asses off in [01:32:16] their cork [01:32:18] ass off. You work their ass off. Those [01:32:21] people probably work harder than any of [01:32:23] us in the situation that they're living [01:32:25] in. I mean, they're that they're [ __ ] [01:32:28] going to the river to get water. I mean, [01:32:30] it's it's they don't have running water. [01:32:33] >> Yeah. They have work ethic. It's not [01:32:34] like they're not They're tough. They [01:32:38] don't come here lazy. [01:32:40] >> Yeah. [01:32:40] >> They come here [01:32:42] >> I I I would imagine they come here ready [01:32:46] ready to make a living, ready to to [01:32:49] contribute, ready to ready to to live [01:32:52] the the American dream, right? But [01:32:55] instead, we we we we give them a pathway [01:32:58] to to welfare, to free living, free [01:33:02] medical, free everything. [01:33:05] >> It's for nobody stops it. like [01:33:08] >> it's political. [01:33:08] >> This isn't a [01:33:12] some of it is a political some of it is [01:33:14] I mean it okay but I mean it's just [01:33:19] man [01:33:21] I think that [01:33:22] >> like nobody's [ __ ] stopping this is [01:33:24] what I'm saying like it's that's the [01:33:28] fix. Give these people a pathway to [01:33:31] jobs. [01:33:33] There's a [ __ ] ton of jobs that nobody [01:33:35] wants to do. There's job. Just do it. [01:33:40] Incentivize them. [01:33:44] The [01:33:45] >> just Why the [ __ ] isn't nobody [01:33:48] >> Yeah. [01:33:48] >> This is the [ __ ] Like we can bat this [01:33:51] [ __ ] back and forth. Oh, [ __ ] [01:33:52] Democrats. Oh, Republicans. But neither [01:33:55] one of these [ __ ] parties have fixed [01:33:57] a damn thing. It's It's just It [01:34:00] >> You know what I mean? Yeah. But this [01:34:02] it's the same [ __ ] It's the same. We [01:34:05] bet the same [ __ ] things back and [01:34:07] forth, you know? It is all political. [01:34:08] It's like, "Hey, uh, we don't have [01:34:10] anything to talk about. Let's bring up [01:34:11] abortion." [01:34:13] Have we ever solved anything? Have we [01:34:15] ever come to a [ __ ] conclusion? No. [01:34:17] Let's talk. Let's bad immigration back [01:34:19] and forth. [01:34:23] It's just [ __ ] like nobody solves [01:34:26] anything. like there is no problem [01:34:28] solving that happens here anymore. [01:34:32] >> I you know I would kind of I would [01:34:34] disagree. I mean I think that the [01:34:35] Democrats in Maine have solved the [01:34:37] problem. You know their policies aren't [01:34:38] popular with rural workingass miners [01:34:41] bring in new voters. They solve the [01:34:43] problem. [01:34:45] >> You know [laughter] the problem the [01:34:46] problem is that they're going to get [01:34:47] voted out of office if they continue [01:34:49] pursuing policies that aren't popular [01:34:51] with rural working class. [01:34:52] >> Are they going to get voted out of [01:34:54] office? I mean, you look at look at look [01:34:55] at a place like I don't know, pick pick [01:35:03] >> politicians. [01:35:05] 10% approval rating, 90% re-election [01:35:08] rate. Are they going to get voted out? [01:35:10] Look at some of the [ __ ] going on down [01:35:12] in Texas. Look at their politicians. [01:35:14] >> Do you like any of them? [01:35:17] I think part of understanding how the [01:35:19] you don't I understand exactly what [01:35:21] you're saying, but I think that the part [01:35:22] of understanding how the how the [01:35:25] Medicaid fraud and the Somali fraud has [01:35:27] unfolded is understanding how the [01:35:29] Medicaid program is administered because [01:35:31] it localizes the distribution of this [01:35:34] money. So, it's not that your me your [01:35:36] member of Congress doesn't really have [01:35:38] much say over how how your Medicaid [01:35:40] program is administered. The Medicaid [01:35:42] program is uh I think the most recent [01:35:44] year for which we have numbers a [01:35:46] trillion dollars in spending. [01:35:48] >> I'm not I'm not saying that Cong [01:35:51] the power to stop this immediately. What [01:35:55] I'm saying is they could introduce a [01:35:57] bill. [01:35:59] Somebody has to come up with an [01:36:00] alternative [01:36:01] >> work requirements [01:36:02] >> before you they just have to come up [01:36:05] with an alter put it into a [ __ ] bill [01:36:06] and introduce it. [01:36:07] >> Yeah. I mean we've done it. We have like [01:36:09] the ideas are out there to stop welfare [01:36:11] dependency. Governor Leage introduced [01:36:13] those reforms in Maine. Um groups like [01:36:15] the Foundation for Government [01:36:16] Accountability advocate for the dignity [01:36:19] of work and policies that will reduce [01:36:21] welfare dependency. Those ideas are out [01:36:23] there. It's not inventing. It's not [01:36:24] lifting off uh you know a starship [01:36:26] rocket booster. It's very very basic. [01:36:28] They know what the ideas are. They're [01:36:30] rejecting them on purpose because they [01:36:33] want to build dependent political [01:36:35] coalitions to protect their own [01:36:36] political power. And we see this in the [01:36:39] administration of these programs in the [01:36:40] in the um the records that we found just [01:36:43] at the local level in Maine. But what I [01:36:45] was saying about Medicaid is this is [01:36:47] unlike Medicare which is for older [01:36:50] people and is centrally administered in [01:36:52] Washington DC and your senator, your [01:36:54] representative, they have a big say over [01:36:57] stuff happening with Medicare. Medicaid [01:36:59] is block granted to the states. So the [01:37:02] federal government takes a whole bunch [01:37:04] of tax money and they just give a big [01:37:05] bag of cash to the state legislature and [01:37:08] say here you run a a program for poor [01:37:12] people. That's how Medicaid operates. [01:37:15] And each state gets to determine little [01:37:18] different u programs and how they're [01:37:20] going to operate. And they got to kind [01:37:21] of color in between the lines the [01:37:23] federal government sets out but they [01:37:24] have huge latitude. So you have all this [01:37:27] federal money coming in, a little bit of [01:37:28] state money, and what are politicians [01:37:31] going to do when you give them a big bag [01:37:32] of money? They're going to try to spend [01:37:34] that in a way that makes their [01:37:35] constituents happy, makes them look [01:37:36] good, protects their power, and the [01:37:40] Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, [01:37:43] you know, it gets, you know, people [01:37:45] think it's some complicated technocratic [01:37:46] policy, but all it did was just make [01:37:48] Medicaid bigger. Just made the bag of [01:37:49] cash bigger. That's what that's [01:37:51] basically what Obamacare did. Medicaid, [01:37:53] this huge dysfunctional, bloated welfare [01:37:54] program, made enrollment of it much, [01:37:57] much bigger, so more people could be on [01:37:59] this program. And Maine, like Minnesota, [01:38:02] is an expansion state. We expanded in [01:38:04] 2019, 2020. So more people are eligible. [01:38:07] The bag of cash grows. All this money is [01:38:09] coming into Maine and the governor and [01:38:12] the legislature, they've got all this [01:38:13] money to play with to decide, you know, [01:38:15] where it's going to go. And then you add [01:38:17] COVID into that and they're spending [01:38:19] this money in a way that is going to [01:38:22] protect their political power and [01:38:24] accomplish their ideological mission. [01:38:26] And the dependency of the Somali [01:38:28] community is just a byproduct of that. [01:38:31] It's, you know, they they are rewarding [01:38:33] the Somali community with taxpayer money [01:38:36] and turning a blind eye to the fraud in [01:38:39] order to protect their own political [01:38:41] power. And the again the byproduct the [01:38:44] consequence of that has been a Somali [01:38:46] diaspora that is dependent that is kind [01:38:49] of orbits these fraud programs these [01:38:51] schemes. It's like if you're a young [01:38:53] Somali guy and you see all your peers [01:38:56] are starting home healthcare agencies or [01:38:57] daycarees getting rich buying mansions [01:39:00] and opening day you know uh driving [01:39:02] Mercedes-Benz Gwagons. [01:39:05] Are you going to go work at LLBAN? You [01:39:08] know, are you gonna are you going to go [01:39:09] get a job and work for $15 an hour at [01:39:12] Dunkin Donuts when your friend is making [01:39:14] a million dollars a year doing fake [01:39:17] health care stuff? No. So that you're [01:39:19] the incentives are all misaligned [01:39:21] because you've turned a blind eye to [01:39:23] fraud. You've designed a system where [01:39:26] fraud is far more profitable than doing [01:39:28] the right thing. That's what we have. [01:39:30] And you've done it, I think, [01:39:32] intentionally to protect political [01:39:34] power. And we found, I guess getting [01:39:37] back to some of our uh boots on the [01:39:39] ground investigations, [01:39:41] there's a contract process in the state [01:39:44] where you're handing out money. Usually, [01:39:46] if you're going to spend a whole bunch [01:39:47] of money, you do a request for proposals [01:39:50] and you have to have, you know, [01:39:51] competing proposals to see who's going [01:39:53] to provide that service. Transparent [01:39:55] gets the lowest price for taxpayers. You [01:39:57] can also do no bid contracts, which is [01:40:00] somebody in the government just picks [01:40:02] who the best person is to get this [01:40:03] money. Um, in Maine, for whatever [01:40:06] reason, we have these forms that you [01:40:08] have to fill out when you do a no bid [01:40:10] contract, and they're they're public on [01:40:12] the state website for 7 days, and then [01:40:14] they disappear. That's the transparency [01:40:16] we have. That's how the the system was [01:40:18] designed for 7 days. If you check the [01:40:20] website during that 7-day period, you [01:40:21] can see the form. Could be a million, [01:40:23] could be $10 million, could be $5,000 [01:40:26] because some guy in Hancock County needs [01:40:27] like a new prop on a boat or something. [01:40:29] But you have to check it during that [01:40:31] period of time and you'll find the no [01:40:32] bid contract for money that's being [01:40:34] spent. It's a it's the most corrupt and [01:40:36] least transparent way to spend money to [01:40:38] reward your friends, to reward your [01:40:40] political allies. And we requested [01:40:43] through the Freedom of Access Act all of [01:40:46] the no bid contract documents. We wanted [01:40:49] all of these documents because just [01:40:50] because they're only public for seven [01:40:52] days doesn't mean they're not still a [01:40:53] public record subject to that record [01:40:55] request. and the Mills administration [01:40:57] came back and told us they couldn't do [01:40:59] it. Wasn't technically possible. They [01:41:02] weren't able to provide us with those [01:41:03] documents. So, I was looking back over [01:41:05] some old stories that we did and I found [01:41:08] links to old no bid contracts. I was [01:41:11] like, "Hold on a second. These are all [01:41:13] still on a government server somewhere." [01:41:16] And so I used uh I used Grock to write a [01:41:22] program that would guess at the URLs [01:41:24] where those documents were and download [01:41:27] the documents if it found them and ran [01:41:30] it for like 15 hours on my home computer [01:41:33] and scraped from the government servers [01:41:35] 5,000 documents that they told they told [01:41:38] me they couldn't give me all pointing [01:41:40] towards no bid contract spending. [01:41:42] >> Holy [ __ ] Did you send it to them? Uh, [01:41:44] no I didn't. I if they want it if they [01:41:46] want it from me, they're gonna have to [01:41:47] pay it to them. [01:41:48] >> No, if they want it from me, they're [01:41:49] gonna have to pay me because that's what [01:41:50] I have to do when I get documents from [01:41:52] them. I have to pay them to search for [01:41:53] documents. So, they could pay me for the [01:41:55] documents. But they actually um, [01:41:56] Representative David Ber introduced a [01:41:58] bill to make that change. So, now those [01:42:00] all have to be public. It was like a [01:42:02] tiny tiny win for transparency, but only [01:42:04] because we embarrassed them. Mhm. [01:42:09] When your metabolism is working right, [01:42:11] you feel it in everything. Energy, [01:42:14] sleep, workouts, appetite. Lumen is the [01:42:17] tool that finally lets me see what mine [01:42:19] is actually doing instead of guessing. [01:42:22] It's the first handheld metabolic coach. [01:42:24] You just breathe into it and it tells [01:42:26] you if you're burning fat or carbs. Then [01:42:30] the app gives you a daily plan based on [01:42:32] your results. I use it in the morning [01:42:34] and sometimes before or after meals or [01:42:37] workouts. And it's wild how quickly it [01:42:41] shows what's going on in real time. [01:42:43] Because metabolism drives so much weight [01:42:46] management, energy recovery, it's been [01:42:49] incredibly helpful to have clear [01:42:51] guidance instead of trial and error. [01:42:53] Winter is the perfect season to build [01:42:55] strength from within. Stay energized, [01:42:58] stay resilient, and take charge of your [01:43:00] metabolism. Go to lumen.me/ me/srs to [01:43:03] get an additional 15% off your lumen. [01:43:06] That's len [01:43:09] me/srs for 15% off on top of any offers [01:43:13] or sales running on their website [01:43:18] in those no bid contract documents. [01:43:20] Again, this is a huge trove of scanned [01:43:24] documents. You can't search, you can't [01:43:26] text search through them. It's just this [01:43:28] mountain of raw material that you have [01:43:29] to search through just like until your [01:43:31] eyes bleed looking to figure out what [01:43:32] the hell's going on. Here we find no bid [01:43:35] contracts to Gateway particularly. [01:43:38] >> Oh boy. no bid contracts to Gateway for [01:43:43] funded by federal COVID money that came [01:43:47] in in uh February of 2022 [01:43:52] uh right before Governor Mills is [01:43:54] running for reelection up against uh uh [01:43:57] former Republican Governor Paula Page. [01:44:00] And if you pull the contracts, which we [01:44:02] did and read them and the and the [01:44:04] funding agreements and everything, this [01:44:06] money went to create what were called [01:44:08] chows, community health outreach [01:44:11] workers. I'm willing to bet that this [01:44:14] happened in a lot of states because it [01:44:16] wasn't just the Somali groups. It was [01:44:18] the Hispanic groups, the New Mainor [01:44:21] public health initiative. like all of [01:44:22] the the who's who of the left-wing NOS's [01:44:26] got chow money to create these community [01:44:28] health outreach workers and you didn't [01:44:30] have to have any [01:44:31] >> are these this is is this co PPE loans [01:44:35] >> uh some of these groups did uh Gateway [01:44:37] got $700,000 in PPP money yeah but this [01:44:40] is separate from that this was car's act [01:44:42] this is like the the various big you [01:44:44] know [01:44:45] >> supposedly I just read that Palunteer [01:44:48] has developed some program that's going [01:44:50] to go through and and basically [01:44:54] find all the fraud from the PPE loans. [01:44:56] >> That's what we need. We need asymmetric [01:44:58] solutions and um I could talk a little [01:45:00] bit about some of the things that we've [01:45:02] done to try to [01:45:04] process all these documents, but I think [01:45:06] that the chows are important because one [01:45:09] of the things that I hope uh some other [01:45:11] people listening to this will take away [01:45:12] is going into their state and trying to [01:45:14] figure out if the same patterns were [01:45:16] replicated because the same because it's [01:45:18] a state-by-state program whether there's [01:45:20] Medicaid or state administered COVID [01:45:21] spending, they just take the same [01:45:23] playbook and they run it in a little bit [01:45:25] of a different way to a different beat [01:45:26] in every state. And so journalists who [01:45:29] are working in other states, you know, [01:45:30] Nick Nick Shirley, anybody who's in [01:45:32] Minnesota or California or Ohio, they [01:45:34] can say, "Huh, geez, they found that in [01:45:35] Maine. I wonder if that's happening in [01:45:37] my state." It is. You just have to find [01:45:39] it. Um, these chows were uh, you know, [01:45:43] all your your only qualification had to [01:45:45] be that you could speak the language of [01:45:47] the migrant population that you were [01:45:48] targeting. the community health outreach [01:45:51] workers, the the positive spin of it is [01:45:53] that they're providing health care to [01:45:55] marginalized communities during a [01:45:56] pandemic. Okay? So, you're going and [01:45:59] handing out COVID tests or something in [01:46:01] Little Moadishu to these migrant [01:46:02] communities that are increasing by the [01:46:04] way because as this is all happening, we [01:46:05] have a second and third wave of mass [01:46:08] migration to Maine that is central [01:46:10] African um not Somali. We have uh [01:46:13] Congalles, Angolans, and Rwans coming [01:46:15] into Maine. refu a genuine refugee [01:46:17] crisis in in Portland. But the community [01:46:20] health outreach workers are tasked with [01:46:23] signing up migrants for Medicaid for [01:46:26] food stamps and EBT card. Um they were [01:46:30] allowed to give the migrants walking [01:46:32] around money. They were allowed to buy [01:46:34] household supplies. [01:46:35] >> Walking around money. [01:46:36] >> They were they were given in the [01:46:38] contract. It doesn't say walking around [01:46:40] money. Says you're allowed to buy [01:46:41] household supplies. I'm sure that there [01:46:43] was a lot of policing of how that [01:46:45] household supply money was handed out. [01:46:47] >> Um, they're also tasked with keeping a [01:46:50] database on all of the people that [01:46:52] they've just gone around and bestowed [01:46:53] these patronage benefits on. And under [01:46:56] federal law, if you sign somebody up for [01:46:59] an EBT card or Medicaid, you are [01:47:01] required to provide them assistance [01:47:03] registering to vote. So any program that [01:47:07] requires NOS's to go out and sign people [01:47:09] up for welfare benefits is a de facto [01:47:12] voter registration program. So we took [01:47:15] no bid contract money funded by the [01:47:17] federal government, handed out through [01:47:18] this opaque process, gave it to Gateway [01:47:21] Community Services and other groups [01:47:23] operating in the same, you know, [01:47:25] community and turned it into a taxpayer [01:47:28] funded voter registration and ballot [01:47:30] harvesting program. And so who did those [01:47:32] people vote for when they know where [01:47:35] their household supply money came from? [01:47:37] >> Mhm. [01:47:38] >> Who did those people vote for? And I'll [01:47:40] give you a clue because uh right after [01:47:43] they get this no bid contract money, [01:47:45] Gateway Community Services, Abdullah Ali [01:47:48] creates an organization called the [01:47:50] Community Organizing Alliance. It's run [01:47:52] by two of his staffers who worked at [01:47:55] Gateway. Sophia Khaled, who was a uh [01:47:57] Lewon city councelor and a former [01:48:00] special assistant at Gateway Community [01:48:01] Services, and her brother Muhammad [01:48:03] Khaled. They're working um for him, but [01:48:06] they work at Community Organizing [01:48:07] Alliance now, which isn't the same [01:48:09] office building. So, it's this it's got [01:48:11] a new name, but it's in the same office [01:48:12] building. It's like the political arm of [01:48:14] Gateway Community Services, and it's [01:48:16] tied in with the uh top Democrats from [01:48:19] the state of Maine, the non-Somali [01:48:21] Democrat political activists. And this [01:48:24] is an explicitly political organization [01:48:27] that is existing in the same building at [01:48:29] the same time that these taxpayer funded [01:48:32] chows are going out and sprinkling money [01:48:35] over the community and coming back with [01:48:37] a list of, you know, potential voters [01:48:39] who are living in these these [01:48:40] households. Uh, and Sophia Khaled now is [01:48:45] still running the community organizing [01:48:47] alliance. and she did a fundraiser uh [01:48:51] just it was like maybe a month after our [01:48:53] last episode she did a fundraiser with [01:48:55] the secretary of state of Maine [01:48:56] Chennabellos who is right now refusing [01:48:58] to turn over the voter roles in the [01:49:00] state of Maine to the Trump Justice [01:49:02] Department. They're investigating how [01:49:04] many non-citizens or migrants could [01:49:06] potentially be voting in the state of [01:49:07] Maine. And Chennabella says, "No, not [01:49:10] turning over those voter records." And [01:49:12] Chennabello's Graham Platner, I'm sure [01:49:14] you've seen uh about him, the guy who's [01:49:17] running for Senate in Maine. Uh and a [01:49:19] just a who's who of Democrats go into [01:49:22] Lewon and do a rally in uh in in support [01:49:25] of the Somalies after this fraud stuff [01:49:27] starts breaking in Minnesota. And who is [01:49:30] running it but Sofhia Khaled who's [01:49:33] former gateway employee running the [01:49:35] community organizing alliance no bid [01:49:37] contracts from the Mills administration [01:49:39] and [01:49:41] yesterday Nick Shirley released his [01:49:43] reporting on I guess the second batch on [01:49:46] uh the non-emergency Medicaid [01:49:48] transportation money [01:49:50] and we found also registered at the [01:49:54] Canal Street address of Gateway [01:49:55] Community Services is a company called [01:49:58] Careway Express, which is a a [01:50:01] non-emergency Medicaid transportation [01:50:03] provider that is uh registered in the [01:50:07] name of Muhammad Khaled, who's Sophia [01:50:09] Khaled's brother. This the reason why I [01:50:12] bring up this transportation money is [01:50:13] because this is massive, massive money. [01:50:16] This is a $750 million [01:50:20] $750 [clears throat] [01:50:20] million contract over 10 years that was [01:50:24] awarded to a publicly traded company [01:50:26] called Motive Care. and then they [01:50:28] distribute it to subcontractors. And [01:50:30] it's the subject of a lot of controversy [01:50:32] in Maine right now because Motive Care [01:50:33] went bankrupt after this contract was [01:50:36] awarded through an RFP. That was [01:50:39] >> an RFP [01:50:40] >> request for proposal. So [01:50:42] >> uh the state of Maine says we need [01:50:44] non-emergency med uh medical [01:50:46] transportation which is paid for by [01:50:48] Medicaid by federal dollars. These are [01:50:50] car rides for methadone patients. Like [01:50:52] you you're Sean, you live in Lewon. You [01:50:54] need a boofing kit. you need a ride to [01:50:56] go get the kit. Literally, you can get a [01:50:58] ride to the needle exchange clinic [01:50:59] through non-emergency medical [01:51:00] transportation or the methadone clinic [01:51:02] or your doctor's appointment, whatever [01:51:05] it is. So, there's this huge need for [01:51:07] rides, transportation for Medicaid [01:51:10] patients. [01:51:11] >> The state does this on a 10-year basis. [01:51:13] They've got a big bucket of money for it [01:51:16] and they say we need transportation for [01:51:17] all of these regions. This had been [01:51:19] provided by uh some nonprofits like [01:51:23] Penquist Cap, uh Waldo Cap, um some [01:51:26] 501c3s that are left-leaning. Um they [01:51:29] run their own vehicle fleets, whatever. [01:51:31] Um 3 years ago, Motive Care bids for it [01:51:34] and they get it contract for the whole [01:51:36] state and their model is different. [01:51:38] They're just a like a call center and a [01:51:40] ride processing organization. They [01:51:42] subcontract to all these little tiny [01:51:44] like 35 different subcontractors [01:51:47] many of which in their more urban areas [01:51:49] are Somali businesses like run you know [01:51:52] run the Somali cab services and we don't [01:51:55] really know you don't have a lot of [01:51:56] transparency about how they operate [01:51:57] after the money flows through mode of [01:51:59] care to them one of them is Muhammad [01:52:02] Khal's Careway Express operating out of [01:52:03] the same office as Gateway Community [01:52:06] Services but this is $750 million over [01:52:10] 10 years. [01:52:12] >> $750 million. [01:52:14] >> Yes. For rides in Maine, [01:52:16] disproportionately weighted towards the [01:52:19] uh you know the uh districts with the [01:52:21] most people. That's how the funding [01:52:23] formula gets it. The funding formula is [01:52:25] complicated, but it's a huge amount of [01:52:26] money. Uh Penguis Cap sues because they [01:52:30] don't like how the RFP turned out and [01:52:31] they think it was sketchy. It comes out [01:52:33] during the RFP process that the people [01:52:35] evaluating deciding to give this money [01:52:37] to Motive Care and therefore their Sally [01:52:39] subcontractors [01:52:41] can't really explain why they did that. [01:52:43] They're like, "Yeah, you know what? That [01:52:44] wasn't really fair. We copied and pasted [01:52:46] some stuff from some other areas. We [01:52:48] can't really explain how this all worked [01:52:49] out. Terribly unfair." The people who [01:52:51] were evaluating the RFP, giving this [01:52:53] money away said, "Yeah, it was a unfair [01:52:55] and flawed process, but it hasn't been [01:52:57] resolved yet." And a bipartisan group of [01:53:00] lawmakers last week sent a letter to [01:53:03] Governor Mills saying just rebid the [01:53:05] contract. You have the authority. You [01:53:08] just rebid the contract. And she won't. [01:53:10] She won't do this. For for more than a [01:53:12] year now, they've been saying just just [01:53:14] rebid the contract. You can do it. The [01:53:16] company Motive Care has gone bankrupt [01:53:18] now. They're not providing the rides. [01:53:19] There's been this breakdown in service [01:53:21] means poorest, most vulnerable people, [01:53:23] people who actually should be on [01:53:25] Medicaid and get these rides who want [01:53:27] legitimate health care services, not, [01:53:29] you know, madeup daycare services or [01:53:31] madeup home care services. They're not [01:53:33] getting transportation. They're getting [01:53:35] stranded. The system is failing them. [01:53:37] So, just rebid the contract and it [01:53:39] solves all the problems. The contract [01:53:41] can go back to the mainbased company [01:53:44] that has been handling it forever. And [01:53:46] it's this mystery. Why won't she re [01:53:48] rebid this contract? because it's [01:53:50] hurting poor people. Democrats say they [01:53:52] want to help poor people. It's a [01:53:55] formerly a Democrat NGO had that [01:53:57] contract anyway. It's just like a big [01:53:59] nonprofit, like a a legitimate nonprofit [01:54:02] that plays by the rules. It might be [01:54:04] leftwing, but plays by the rules. Why [01:54:06] won't she re just rebid that contract? [01:54:08] As of as of today, she has not responded [01:54:11] to Democrats and Republicans. an [01:54:14] overwhelming majority of Democrats and [01:54:15] Republican lawmakers coming out and [01:54:16] saying just just rebid the contract. She [01:54:19] won't do it. [01:54:19] >> And this is over a year over a year ago. [01:54:22] >> This is this is uh this has been I think [01:54:24] three years now since Motive has been [01:54:27] bankrupt. [01:54:28] >> Uh so Motive Care gets the contract. [01:54:30] They're not a super financially healthy [01:54:32] company. They go bankrupt. They've gone [01:54:34] into penny stock status. They now say [01:54:36] that they've come out of the other side [01:54:37] of bankruptcy bigger, stronger, leaner. [01:54:40] They're lobbying lawmakers very hard to [01:54:42] to keep that contract. Obviously, why [01:54:44] wouldn't they? Any company would. But [01:54:46] their their model is not to hire um you [01:54:49] know the same people, the same cars or [01:54:51] to operate fleets. Their model is to [01:54:55] >> give the money to subcontractors like [01:54:57] Careway Express. They just happen to [01:54:59] have a disproportionate number of [01:55:00] contractors in these urban areas are [01:55:03] Somalun companies uh who are colllocated [01:55:07] >> man [01:55:08] >> with the most notorious Medicaid fraud [01:55:10] right now in Maine and you see the same [01:55:13] exact thing in in Nick's second video uh [01:55:16] when that guy David is taking him [01:55:17] around. He's like, "Let me tell you let [01:55:18] me let me show you the second biggest [01:55:20] fraud, non-emergency medical [01:55:21] transportation." And I'm like, "Ding, [01:55:23] ding, ding. We have a winner." [01:55:25] >> Wow. It's like home care services, [01:55:27] non-emergency medical transportation, [01:55:29] SNAP, and EBT fraud where you take the [01:55:31] EBT card and you swipe it and you get [01:55:33] cash back at a discount for the amount [01:55:35] of benefits that are taken off your [01:55:37] card. There's all these different [01:55:38] programs that are being scammed. But the [01:55:40] thing is, so why won't Janet Mills just [01:55:43] rebid the contract? Why do you think she [01:55:46] won't? Because she knows who it's going [01:55:48] to, right? She knows that it's [01:55:51] benefiting the Somali contractors. It's [01:55:53] the only possible way that it makes [01:55:55] sense is if she understands the amount [01:55:58] of the the no bid contracts, the [01:56:00] Medicaid money, the non-emergency [01:56:01] medical transportation money. We're [01:56:03] talking tens of millions of dollars [01:56:04] that's flowing into this political [01:56:07] community, which uh is very uh very [01:56:11] active, tends to tends to vote quite a [01:56:13] bit. You've got your activist base, [01:56:14] which you're funding uh your doornockers [01:56:16] and your ballot harvesters. you've got [01:56:19] this captured political community that [01:56:21] you're pumping tens of millions of [01:56:23] taxpayer dollars into and they're [01:56:25] turning out and they're voting for you. [01:56:27] And again, it might not make a [01:56:29] determinative difference in general [01:56:31] elections because a lot of people are [01:56:33] coming out to vote uh and the Somali [01:56:35] aren't, you know, going to tip the [01:56:37] scales in a general election, but in the [01:56:40] primary elections they will. M [01:56:42] >> and Janet Mills is now running against [01:56:44] Graham Plat Grand Platner, this hard [01:56:46] left progressive and they're all going [01:56:49] to Lewon to compete for the Somali vote [01:56:51] because you're talking about 5,000 [01:56:53] 10,000 15,000 votes and then you've got [01:56:56] the adjacent people who are in the [01:56:58] migrant services world who are, you [01:57:01] know, funded by the migrant services [01:57:02] Ponzi scheme. this constant churn of [01:57:05] migrants coming in who need welfare [01:57:07] checks and dependency and translation [01:57:09] services and this whole industry that [01:57:11] gets developed around the borderless [01:57:13] welfare state. They're the voting block [01:57:16] that's going to decide who the [01:57:17] Democratic nominees are. So you either [01:57:20] got to pander to them or you've got to [01:57:22] pump taxpayer money into them if you [01:57:24] want that vote. That's what's going to [01:57:26] decide who the primary nominees are from [01:57:28] Maine, from Minnesota, from whatever [01:57:30] state where this phenomenon is [01:57:32] happening. this phenomenon of uh uh [01:57:34] migrant services [01:57:37] industrial complex. It's what it is. [01:57:39] >> Yeah, [01:57:41] man. Let's talk about um [01:57:45] the immortals. [01:57:47] The immortal Somali. [01:57:50] Yeah. Uh, this is something I kind of [01:57:54] thought about but never really dwelled [01:57:56] on it because I didn't know how you [01:57:58] would design a journalistic [01:57:59] investigation to like figure out if [01:58:02] there's a story there. But I was talking [01:58:04] with Liz Collins from Alpha News who is [01:58:07] uh she's like fantastic. I mean, this is [01:58:10] the moment for Alpha News. They're [01:58:11] covering they're based in Minneapolis. [01:58:12] They do state level news and they're [01:58:15] actually willing to report the truth and [01:58:16] challenge the regime out there. Uh, and [01:58:20] she just says something to me. She's [01:58:21] like, "Have you ever looked at cardiac [01:58:24] arrests involving Somali's?" I like, [01:58:28] and I kind of groed what she was getting [01:58:31] to. And I was like, "You mean like are [01:58:34] Somali's dying of natural causes and [01:58:35] being reported?" And she was like, [01:58:37] "Yeah." She's like, I was talking with [01:58:39] Minneapolis police officers and none of [01:58:42] them ever remember responding to a [01:58:46] cardiac arrest, aneurysm, stroke of a [01:58:49] older Somali person. You just looking at [01:58:51] the actuarial actuarial tables, you [01:58:53] would think 100,000 people out there. [01:58:56] The odds say that some of them are going [01:58:58] to have heart attacks, they're going to [01:58:59] die, and then the police or the [01:59:01] emergency services are going to be [01:59:02] called to respond. [01:59:05] Uh, none of the police officers ever [01:59:07] remember going to a Somali DOA. And so I [01:59:10] go to some of my sources in the Lewon [01:59:13] Police Department and ask, "Do you [01:59:15] remember ever responding to Somali DOA's [01:59:18] cardiac events?" They start laughing [01:59:20] like, you know, we were just talking [01:59:23] about this at the station and no one [01:59:25] really remembers responding to Somali [01:59:28] DOAS. [01:59:29] So what's happening you know based on [01:59:32] that sample you know it's not it's not [01:59:33] totally scientific but we know there's [01:59:36] some natural deaths happening from [01:59:37] medical events within the smalle [01:59:39] community that are not being reported [01:59:42] to the to the state to the medical [01:59:43] authorities to EMS. [01:59:46] Now why is that? So what happens if you [01:59:49] if if grandma's got uh subsidized senior [01:59:52] housing and EBT card and Medicaid [01:59:54] benefits and you report that she's [01:59:56] passed away. [01:59:57] >> Okay. Okay. So, those benefits get shut [01:59:59] off. Everybody can understand. Yeah. You [02:00:00] just keep the benefits going. This is [02:00:01] how you end up with social security or [02:00:04] uh more so the EBT cards uh benefits [02:00:06] going to dead people. But what are they [02:00:09] doing with the bodies? [02:00:11] >> That's what I was going to ask. [02:00:13] >> What are they doing with the bodies? [02:00:19] >> That'll be interesting when they find [02:00:21] that. [02:00:21] >> I don't know, man. That's Man, we we're [02:00:24] just we're turning into a third world [02:00:26] country. [02:00:29] It's so weird. [02:00:30] >> I want to show you uh a video. I was I [02:00:33] was asked not to let you publish this, [02:00:34] but um the source said that I could at [02:00:36] least uh show it to you. This is a [02:00:39] security camera footage from outside a [02:00:42] um a Somali market. [02:00:51] What the hell is that? Is that a body? [02:00:54] Oh, never mind. [02:00:55] >> The guy he's he's sitting down. You see [02:00:56] that thing he sets on the ground when he [02:00:58] comes out? [02:00:59] >> Hold on. I had to restart it. [02:01:03] >> So, he comes out and he sets something [02:01:04] on the ground. [02:01:06] >> Yeah, [02:01:06] >> that's his arm. [02:01:09] >> What? [02:01:10] >> Yeah, his arm. [02:01:15] >> What do you mean that's his arm? [02:01:17] >> I mean, like it's his arm and it became [02:01:20] no longer connected to his body and he's [02:01:22] walking out of the back room of the [02:01:25] market. um [02:01:28] to go get medical help. [02:01:31] >> Holy [ __ ] [02:01:33] >> And this was reported in the news that [02:01:36] this had happened. Um they never really [02:01:40] figured out what exactly happened. He [02:01:43] claimed that he was chopping up meat at [02:01:45] this market and fell into the saw and [02:01:49] chopped his own arm off. [02:01:55] This is just one of the many mysteries [02:01:57] that come with being a police officer in [02:01:58] in Lewon, Maine. [02:02:01] Guy's still in Lewon, by the way. [02:02:06] He's the one with one arm. [02:02:08] Um, that market, by the way, is [02:02:11] affiliated with a group that got Lewis [02:02:13] and shooting money. [02:02:16] >> Jeez. [02:02:16] >> AK the AK market had AK health services. [02:02:20] Um [02:02:22] yeah, it my mind goes to when all these [02:02:25] bodies need to be accounted for. My mind [02:02:28] goes to [02:02:30] the facilities that they have for [02:02:32] processing meat, [02:02:34] >> right? You know, if they've [02:02:36] >> if they've got the band saws that can [02:02:38] hack somebody's arm off just in an [02:02:40] accident like that. I don't know how how [02:02:43] do you I mean as a younger man I jacked [02:02:46] deer before and so have dealt with the [02:02:48] problem of trying to make a a large uh [02:02:51] carcass disappear. It's hard. It's not [02:02:54] it's not uh it's not it's not as simple [02:02:57] as you might think. Yeah, that's that's [02:02:59] a [02:03:00] >> that's something where a Republican [02:03:02] governor could come in and look at the [02:03:04] age of people getting Medicaid benefits [02:03:06] or EBT card benefits in Lewon and just [02:03:08] be like, "Holy [ __ ] we've got a a bunch [02:03:10] of people who are 110 years old getting [02:03:12] EBT card benefits. What's going on here? [02:03:14] Can we just call them and see if they're [02:03:16] real people?" That's all a lot of this [02:03:19] would require to stop is just calling [02:03:21] just like basic checkups, [02:03:23] >> going to the offices. I mean, we [02:03:26] uh I've got my notes from we did uh we [02:03:31] visited some of these home healthcare [02:03:33] businesses that have sprung up over the [02:03:34] last 5 years. [02:03:36] >> Mhm. [02:03:36] >> Um one building on Bishop Street in [02:03:39] Portland has all of these businesses [02:03:42] registered there. They're not all uh [02:03:44] home healthcare businesses. There's some [02:03:46] transportation businesses, but you've [02:03:48] got uh you know, AB Home Healthcare. [02:03:50] >> How many are there approximately? [02:03:51] >> Uh there's 39 companies. is we don't [02:03:53] know how many of them are real. How many [02:03:55] of them have actually [02:03:56] >> 39 companies in one building? [02:03:58] >> Yeah. Uh and they're all We actually [02:04:00] have video of it that we'll release in [02:04:02] conjunction with uh this episode. We [02:04:04] went in, we knocked on all the doors in [02:04:06] nobody's home. They're they're one room [02:04:09] office suites. They all have matching [02:04:12] signs on the door. They're checking the [02:04:14] box of having an office so that they can [02:04:16] unlock the Medicaid money, [02:04:18] >> but no one's there. And if somebody from [02:04:20] the government just knocked on the door, [02:04:21] they'd figure out pretty quickly or just [02:04:22] like walked did what we did. Just walk [02:04:24] around the building. We visited twice in [02:04:26] December and then in January to see what [02:04:28] was going on and it's clear what's [02:04:30] happening. They just like someone [02:04:32] figured out here's this empty office [02:04:33] building. Go get a suite. You check the [02:04:35] box. You unlock the Medicaid money. You [02:04:37] look like a legitimate business. But [02:04:39] you've got AB Home Healthcare. Uh, [02:04:42] Brightstar Homeare, Brightar LLC, [02:04:44] Brightar Residential, Bright Stars USA, [02:04:47] Bishop Star Residential, Coaster Coastal [02:04:49] Care LLC, Fable Home Care, Greater [02:04:52] Portland Home Care, that one has built [02:04:54] $2 million. Um, Main Home Care, Noble [02:04:57] Transportation, which is a Medicaid [02:04:59] transportation company. Prestige Home [02:05:02] Care, that one's built $2.5 million. [02:05:05] Knocked on the door, nobody's there. Um, [02:05:09] Southern Main Home Care, uh, that one [02:05:12] is, uh, uh, 4.3 million. Supreme Choice [02:05:15] Home Care, 1.1 million. Uh, to Zolana [02:05:19] Personal Care, uh, Five Stars is an [02:05:22] interesting one. Five Stars is one we [02:05:24] found audit documents for. Um, the [02:05:29] guy who runs Five Stars Personal Care is [02:05:33] um, his name is Mustafa. And you can see [02:05:36] in the emails that they audit his [02:05:38] spending and he gets a million dollars [02:05:40] from 2022 to 2024. And at the beginning [02:05:43] of 2024, they flag him. They audit his [02:05:46] transactions. He has a 70% error rate. [02:05:49] So 70% of the time he sends paperwork to [02:05:52] to Medicaid to get money. Something [02:05:55] doesn't stack up. There's not documents [02:05:57] to substantiate it. There's just he [02:05:59] doesn't pass the straight face test. So [02:06:01] they send him a letter notice of [02:06:02] violation. We're going to be auditing [02:06:04] you. we need some additional documents. [02:06:06] If he had those documents, all he would [02:06:08] have to do is send them to the [02:06:10] Department of Health and Human Services [02:06:11] and they'd say, "Okay, you check out. [02:06:12] You can continue billing Medicaid." Um, [02:06:15] he's you can see in the emails that he [02:06:17] strings along the process where um he [02:06:20] doesn't respond to the letters at first [02:06:22] um and then he says that his responses [02:06:24] were getting lost in the mail. Uh and [02:06:26] then his family is sick. Um and then uh [02:06:28] his family is sick again. They all have [02:06:31] COVID really, really bad. And this is [02:06:32] all delayed him. So he gets extension [02:06:34] after extension after extension [02:06:36] throughout uh you know the audit process [02:06:38] and he's allowed to continue billing [02:06:39] hundreds of thousands of dollars while [02:06:41] he's under audit while he's making up [02:06:43] these excuses while he's living in [02:06:45] public housing by the way and running [02:06:47] this business out of public housing as a [02:06:49] 25year-old in Maine and uh finally in [02:06:54] February of 2025 [02:06:57] they shut off billing to him after this [02:06:59] whole process. So he's made a million [02:07:01] dollars [02:07:03] doing this home healthcare business. [02:07:05] They shut off the money. He never [02:07:07] complains as far as we can see. No one [02:07:09] dies. No one loses their healthare. [02:07:12] He just gets to walk away from the [02:07:13] business. The business entity folds and [02:07:16] he goes on his life, you know, goes and [02:07:18] starts a a new enterprise. We we've even [02:07:21] seen instances of the same person [02:07:24] corresponding with the state about one [02:07:26] of these audits for a firm that gets [02:07:28] shut down because they can't [02:07:29] substantiate their care going out and [02:07:32] starting a second Medicaid business [02:07:35] running it parallel while they're doing [02:07:38] the delay game on the audit process and [02:07:40] they're starting another business that [02:07:42] runs. So, you can do this scheme, get [02:07:45] your Medicaid billing shut off, and [02:07:46] you're not going to be barred from [02:07:48] starting a new Medicaid business, and [02:07:51] don't even think about criminal charges [02:07:53] or a criminal investigation for any of [02:07:55] this. And don't even think about making [02:07:57] it public. This all just gets swept [02:08:00] under the rug unless someone does a [02:08:02] public records request, finds it, pours [02:08:05] over these documents that they make it [02:08:07] as hard as possible for you to read and [02:08:10] interpret and understand. And there [02:08:14] there's no way you find out about what's [02:08:17] happening here without some kind of [02:08:19] outside, you know, agent bringing [02:08:21] transparency. And it's been a huge [02:08:23] process for us to disentangle what's [02:08:26] happening. Like why are these compan [02:08:28] Why? Why do we have fraud investigators [02:08:31] at the Department of Health and Human [02:08:32] Services who are investigating all of [02:08:34] this, finding it, teeing it up, and then [02:08:38] nothing happens. The money's not [02:08:39] recouped. There's no charges. There's [02:08:42] >> this is this is just the commonality [02:08:44] with everything. [02:08:45] >> It's just swept under the rug because [02:08:47] >> they don't want to upset the community. [02:08:49] They don't want to upset their voters. [02:08:51] They're pumping money into a community [02:08:52] that they want their political support. [02:08:55] And we actually had uh when Iman Osman [02:08:58] resigned from the city council for his [02:08:59] his gun charges. Um uh there was a a [02:09:04] member of the Somali community who came [02:09:05] up at the city council meeting which we [02:09:07] were covering and said bluntly I think [02:09:09] Elon Musk actually retweeted this video. [02:09:11] He said bluntly, "Hey Democrats, we vote [02:09:14] for you. You need to protect us." That's [02:09:17] the that's the play. That's the [02:09:19] tradeoff. That's the That's the [02:09:21] paytoplay that's happening in Maine and [02:09:22] in Minnesota. The Democrats protect the [02:09:25] money-making schemes that the migrant [02:09:28] communities are running and in exchange [02:09:30] they get political support [02:09:33] >> and the migrants are taking large [02:09:34] amounts of money out of this country in [02:09:36] some cases [02:09:37] >> because part of them I think knows it's [02:09:39] not what they're doing isn't [02:09:40] sustainable. So they're trying to pad [02:09:42] their nest for when they have to leave [02:09:44] the country. [02:09:45] >> Uh but it's not for the benefit of the [02:09:48] people of Maine, American taxpayers. [02:09:51] It's it's so totally destructive to the [02:09:53] fabric of society and it does build this [02:09:57] animus between the communities. You [02:10:00] know, like the progressive left wants [02:10:02] this vision of a totally harmonious [02:10:05] diversity as our strength, multicultural [02:10:07] society, but then they do everything [02:10:09] they can to prop up these tribal [02:10:12] differences and and create um privileged [02:10:16] communities based on race and ethnicity [02:10:18] that build this enmity. Mhm. And [02:10:20] >> that's uh really like the defining uh [02:10:23] socioultural [02:10:25] trend in Maine right now is working [02:10:27] Mayners are increasingly wondering why [02:10:30] all these migrants who got here 5 years [02:10:32] ago are driving around in Mercedes G [02:10:35] Wagons and having nicer houses than [02:10:37] they'll ever be able to have. Worked [02:10:39] their entire life, paid 40% of their [02:10:41] paycheck to the government. [02:10:42] >> Yeah. [02:10:42] >> They don't have a they don't have a [02:10:44] scoch of the comfort of living that the [02:10:47] migrants have. [02:10:50] Let's go into [02:10:53] It's not just the Somali, [02:10:59] but wait, it gets worse. It does. Uh, [02:11:05] I'll say this. Uh, so we have some stuff [02:11:07] that we haven't reported that we saved [02:11:09] for you. Really totally exclusive. This [02:11:11] is the first time people will learn [02:11:12] about it. Um, one is just to uh to um [02:11:18] put a bow on the Somali conversation. I [02:11:20] said uh I believe that this is backed at [02:11:23] the nation state level by political [02:11:25] factions in Somalia. We have a major [02:11:29] player in Little Mogadishu in Lewon who [02:11:31] is right now the sitting finance [02:11:33] minister of Jubiland Somalia the same [02:11:36] nation state semi-autonomous region [02:11:38] where Abdullah Ali tried to run for [02:11:41] president. Uh his name is Hussein Hersy [02:11:44] Ahmed and through Ahmed Management LLC, [02:11:47] he owns a commercial real estate [02:11:48] building in little Mogadishu. He rents [02:11:51] to halal markets with EBT machines, uh [02:11:56] healthcare agencies, leftwing promigrant [02:11:58] NOS's. He runs a money transmitter [02:12:01] business and he got his foothold, as far [02:12:03] as we can tell, in Maine by opening up [02:12:06] the main branch of a Minneapolis-based [02:12:09] money transmission service. So, he's got [02:12:13] uh he also has some transportation [02:12:14] businesses. He's into all all legs of [02:12:17] the entrepreneurial worlds that the [02:12:20] Somali inhabit in Maine, the health [02:12:22] care, um you know, renting, the landlord [02:12:25] jobs, uh the home healthcare agencies, [02:12:27] transportation, but the big one is money [02:12:28] transmitting. [02:12:30] if you're transmitting money through [02:12:32] whatever scheme back to Jubiland, you [02:12:34] get a you get a skim on that. Um, so [02:12:36] that's where the real money comes from [02:12:37] if you're back in Jubiland. And [02:12:39] apparently that's how be you become the [02:12:41] finance minister. So he arrived in, as [02:12:44] best we can tell, he starts getting main [02:12:46] driver's licenses in Lewon in the early [02:12:50] 2000s and he builds this money [02:12:52] transmitting business. Eventually he [02:12:54] buys the commercial real estate that [02:12:55] becomes a very important building [02:12:57] renting to other Somali groups and now [02:13:00] he's the sitting finance minister [02:13:02] >> is wild. [02:13:04] >> Yeah. That's why I say that it's backed [02:13:06] by at the nation state level like what [02:13:08] what was what is your job if you're the [02:13:10] finance minister of Jubiland. You've got [02:13:12] all these money transmitting businesses. [02:13:14] You know, we Sorry, I don't want to [02:13:17] delay you before we move on, but this [02:13:19] these are the these are the healthcare [02:13:21] companies that were based at on Anderson [02:13:23] Street. Uh 203 Anderson Street in [02:13:25] Portland. Uh Babylon, Beacon. Um [02:13:29] oh, you know what? Sorry, scratch that. [02:13:31] This is a different place on Bishop [02:13:33] Street, not the one I was talking about. [02:13:34] Also a scam. Bunch of small there. No [02:13:36] one at the offices, but what I'm talking [02:13:38] about at 203 Anderson, there's four home [02:13:41] healthcare businesses at this office [02:13:44] along with a Dahab Shiel, which is the [02:13:47] preferred money transmission service of [02:13:49] the Central Bank of Somalia. Um, also [02:13:52] the winner of the Somalia Excellence [02:13:54] Awards in 2024 for wiring money [02:13:58] specifically back to Somalia. This [02:14:00] business exists specifically to send [02:14:02] money back to Somalia and it's [02:14:04] colllocated with a bunch of Medicaid [02:14:07] funded businesses in downtown Portland. [02:14:09] When we were there to visit, I tried to [02:14:11] wire uh $40 to Abdi's mom in Moadishu. [02:14:15] They didn't let me. Um but as we're [02:14:18] leaving, we see the the Brinks truck [02:14:21] guys walk out with bags of cash and get [02:14:23] in their truck and walk away. And it's [02:14:25] like this is the full cycle. This is the [02:14:27] life cycle of the the the main taxpayer [02:14:30] dollar. You know, it goes uh into the [02:14:32] government. It goes down through [02:14:34] Medicaid into these companies. It goes [02:14:35] to the DHub shield and then it goes on [02:14:37] the Brinks truck and eventually finds [02:14:38] its way back to Jubiland Somalia. So, [02:14:41] the money the money transmission service [02:14:43] is just a huge part of this and it's [02:14:46] backed at the nation state level for [02:14:48] Somalia, but also I think about the [02:14:50] people we'll talk about next. I think [02:14:52] that other countries are taking [02:14:55] advantage of the American welfare state [02:14:58] in a systematic way. It's economic [02:15:00] terrorism. [02:15:01] >> Yeah. [02:15:02] >> Backed by nation states. It needs to be [02:15:03] treated just like you would treat any [02:15:05] act of terrorism. Like they are whether [02:15:07] it's for their own benefit or to weaken [02:15:11] the United States. They are ex [02:15:14] systematically exploiting American large [02:15:17] s the welfare system and it's having a [02:15:20] punishing punishing effect on the [02:15:22] American middle class. It's breeding [02:15:24] this cynicism. It's destroying us [02:15:26] financially. Creates all these perverse [02:15:28] incentives in our economy, but it's 100% [02:15:31] backed by political actors in these [02:15:33] other countries. And until they pay a [02:15:36] consequence for it, until it's treated [02:15:37] like economic terrorism, it's going to [02:15:39] continue. [02:15:40] >> Yeah. Yeah. [02:15:43] Man, this is depressing. Let's take a [02:15:46] break. When we come back, we'll get into [02:15:48] Hotel Rwanda. 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[02:18:51] >> All right, we're back from the break. [02:18:53] [clears throat] [02:18:54] You ready? [02:18:56] >> On to the next. On to the next. [02:18:58] >> No. Yeah, I'm always ready. [02:19:02] >> Yeah, it uh [02:19:05] the next [02:19:05] >> You were telling me about a tool on the [02:19:07] break that you were using to sift [02:19:08] through all these documents. What? [02:19:10] >> So I mean [02:19:11] >> actually you brought it up on the last [02:19:12] segment. [02:19:13] >> Yeah. So first first during the during [02:19:16] the Chinese organized crime reporting [02:19:17] and then during um some of the Medicaid [02:19:20] fraud reporting we have this problem of [02:19:22] huge amounts of data whether it's Excel [02:19:24] spreadsheets, PDFs, huge bodies of [02:19:27] government records. Um we need to figure [02:19:30] out how to process this and it's more [02:19:32] than one journalist can handle. we need [02:19:33] this asymmetric solution as a journalist [02:19:36] to be able to deal with all of this [02:19:37] large amounts of data. And over the last [02:19:40] three years as we've been having this [02:19:41] experience coming up, you know, butting [02:19:43] up against this problem, all these AI [02:19:45] tools have come out. Um, and Grock has [02:19:47] been useful in developing some Python [02:19:49] scripts to like take the noid contract [02:19:52] documents off of the government server. [02:19:54] And I started thinking about can we [02:19:56] develop a a program or use these AI [02:19:58] tools to be like a force multiplier for [02:20:00] journalists? And I had a programmer [02:20:03] reach out to me. We actually what ended [02:20:04] up happening was we put all of those no [02:20:07] bid contracts. We made them public. We [02:20:09] went through them and tried to find as [02:20:10] much as we could. Did our reporting. We [02:20:12] just dumped them on the internet and [02:20:13] said, "Hey, anybody who wants to see [02:20:15] these, the government won't make them [02:20:16] public. We'll make them public. Here's [02:20:18] transparency for you and generated a lot [02:20:21] of uh, you know, attention in main [02:20:22] politics." And someone reached out to me [02:20:25] who was a programmer who in like two [02:20:28] seconds came up with a script that took [02:20:30] them all and made them machine readable [02:20:32] and searchable and you know used like [02:20:35] you know some Google AI the Gemini [02:20:37] Gemini AI and really easily made them so [02:20:40] much um simpler for a dummy like me to [02:20:43] understand. And so I started talking [02:20:45] with this guy and he was, you know, [02:20:47] conservative mayorbased, maybe a little [02:20:49] bit autistic. And I ended up paying him [02:20:52] to develop a program that we call Harpe. [02:20:55] And uh it's named after the blade that [02:20:58] Perseus used to cut off Medusel's head. [02:21:00] >> It's a good analogy, a good good imagery [02:21:03] for fighting corrupt government. [02:21:04] >> Nice. Um, but it's a tool where you [02:21:07] basically drop in a huge body of raw [02:21:10] records, whether it's scans of real [02:21:12] estate records or no contract documents, [02:21:15] government spending records, really any [02:21:17] kind of record or Excel spreadsheets, [02:21:19] just all the records that you want to [02:21:21] process and research and then [02:21:23] >> also thousands and thousands of pages. [02:21:26] >> Yes. Yeah. [02:21:27] uh and it goes a little bit beyond what [02:21:30] you can do with just chat GPT or Grock [02:21:34] or Gemini alone and that you can give it [02:21:37] instructions for how to handle [02:21:39] information. You can create some [02:21:40] projects within it and then it will do [02:21:42] link analysis for you. So you can find [02:21:45] patterns in the data that you wouldn't [02:21:46] be able to otherwise. So we can take the [02:21:49] 5,000 pages of audit record, 8,000 pages [02:21:52] of audit records that we have and put [02:21:54] them into Harpe and it will analyze them [02:21:58] with optical character recognition and [02:22:00] then it will do link analysis on it and [02:22:02] spit out a web of the inter [02:22:04] relationships between these people. So, [02:22:06] when we find addresses like the ones [02:22:08] that we've visited where there are 30 or [02:22:10] 40 different healthcare LLC's [02:22:12] registered, [02:22:13] >> it'll spit up boom boom boom and you'll [02:22:15] see it'll just it'll take, you know, uh [02:22:17] weeks and weeks and weeks of reading [02:22:19] through these documents and condenses it [02:22:22] into a three-hour project. [02:22:24] >> Wow. [02:22:24] >> And so, we've it's been pretty [02:22:26] successful for us using this this [02:22:28] product. And at some point really when [02:22:31] when Jeremy started asking about coming [02:22:33] on with you, I was like, it would be [02:22:35] really great if we could find a way to [02:22:37] allow other people to come and have [02:22:40] access to this tool. I mean, it's like I [02:22:42] don't want this is free, so it's we're [02:22:45] we're putting out a list for we haven't [02:22:46] decided what we want to do with it yet. [02:22:48] I think that there will be some costs [02:22:49] we'll need to recoup with it because I I [02:22:51] mean, I paid the developer to to make [02:22:53] it. Um, but people can sign up for like [02:22:55] a beta tester list at Get Harpay. We're [02:22:57] looking for some people to [02:23:00] help us break the break the program and [02:23:02] figure it out and and and test it and [02:23:04] sign up for it to um figure out what the [02:23:07] uses for it will be because I've been [02:23:10] telling my just the program or what I [02:23:12] want out of it and it's been designed to [02:23:15] fit my needs as an investigative [02:23:17] journalist, but we think that it would [02:23:18] be useful to some of the like lay [02:23:21] investigators who have been just decided [02:23:23] like I want to figure out what's going [02:23:24] on in my community and they start [02:23:25] looking around and they And you know, [02:23:28] you know, a hundred trucking companies [02:23:29] are registered at one address in Ohio [02:23:31] and people there are voting. A bunch of [02:23:33] people there are voting. They find these [02:23:34] weird things. There's so much data out [02:23:36] there, you can drown in it. [02:23:39] >> So, you need a a solution to help see [02:23:42] the signal through the noise. That's [02:23:44] what we hope will be. And if people [02:23:47] want, it's harp, [02:23:49] >> like the blade. It's get harpay h a [02:23:51] rp.com. [02:23:53] people can sign up and we'll be we've [02:23:55] got to work out some kinks for it [02:23:56] because again we just [02:23:58] >> we made it as a tool for me to use and [02:24:00] never intended it to be [02:24:02] >> something that we would share. Uh well [02:24:04] yeah shoot me the link. We'll put it in [02:24:06] the description and I'm sure a lot of [02:24:07] people would be interested to [02:24:08] >> I think in the in the hands of the right [02:24:10] people you could create a journalistic [02:24:12] revolution in the country by giving them [02:24:15] this asymmetric solution because [02:24:16] everybody is [02:24:18] >> drowning in data. You know there's like [02:24:20] a lack of transparency and overwhelming [02:24:23] transparency like oh we published the [02:24:24] bill. Oh we have governmentuspending.com [02:24:26] all the spending data is public. [02:24:28] >> But because there's so much of it people [02:24:30] can't really interpret it for [02:24:32] themselves. [02:24:34] Exactly. But we have the AI tools now [02:24:36] that make it really really uh gives us [02:24:38] finally gives us the opportunity to make [02:24:41] that data meaningful and then tell [02:24:43] stories about it. Um and so that's what [02:24:44] we hope to do. [02:24:46] >> Nice. [02:24:46] >> My shame shameless plug for get [02:24:47] heartbeat. [02:24:48] >> We'll put it in the description. So [02:24:50] let's move into Hotel Rwanda. What's [02:24:52] going on here? [02:24:54] Uh for about two years I've been hearing [02:24:57] stories about autism homes, residential [02:24:59] care facilities in Maine and [02:25:03] they line up with uh the refugee trends [02:25:07] that we started seeing in 2019. [02:25:09] In 2019, [02:25:12] there's a mass migration to Maine, [02:25:14] thousands of central Africans uh primary [02:25:17] primarily from Angola uh uh but also [02:25:21] from the Democratic Republic of Congo [02:25:23] and from Rwanda. Um very distinct from [02:25:26] what was happening with the Somali [02:25:28] migration. Uh the mass migration to [02:25:32] Maine got so severe that it caused [02:25:34] crisis twice. Uh, I guess you could [02:25:37] consider it an ongoing crisis, but um [02:25:39] the Portland Expo building where the [02:25:41] main Celtics play turned into a deacto [02:25:44] refugee camp twice, once in 2019, once [02:25:46] in uh 2023 was filled with hundreds if [02:25:50] not up to a thousand people just [02:25:51] sleeping on CS cuz so many people had [02:25:54] arrived. Got so bad that as in Lewon in [02:25:58] 2000 in uh 2023 in Portland, the mayor [02:26:02] had to say we just can't do it. the the [02:26:06] uh strain on our uh public services, the [02:26:09] strain on our general assistance, the [02:26:11] strain on everything. We're just we [02:26:13] can't accommodate this flow of jobless [02:26:16] homeless [02:26:18] refugees. It just can't happen. And no [02:26:20] one really explained why this was [02:26:22] happening. Like why this flow of central [02:26:25] African migrants were just showing up in [02:26:27] Maine of all places where we didn't have [02:26:29] the housing to accommodate these people. [02:26:31] Yes, we had a generous welfare system, [02:26:33] but was that it? Was that the only [02:26:35] reason they were showing up? And I know [02:26:36] there were other [clears throat] [02:26:38] migration crisises happening across the [02:26:41] country, particularly under Biden with [02:26:43] an open southern border. It's like every [02:26:45] small town was dealing with some [02:26:46] variation of this. But all of a sudden [02:26:49] in 2023, the emergency rental assistance [02:26:53] money, which was federal money that had [02:26:55] been funding the housing for a lot of [02:26:58] these people to the extent they could [02:26:59] find housing or have housing, that goes [02:27:01] away. uh and the it just kind of [02:27:04] disappears. The the all these people who [02:27:08] didn't have homes and didn't have jobs [02:27:10] uh just kind of faded or drifted away. [02:27:14] And I think we found where they went and [02:27:17] what happened to them because they moved [02:27:20] into the residential care industry in [02:27:23] the state of Maine. And we found this by [02:27:27] looking at the Medicaid spending data. [02:27:30] And this is a Excel spreadsheet spending [02:27:33] by provider from 2019 to 2024. So you [02:27:36] can see all 5,000 people who are billing [02:27:38] Medicaid in Maine. And we filtered out [02:27:42] people who had build in 2019 and 2020 to [02:27:45] find just the startups. We wanted to [02:27:47] look at who are the people who just [02:27:49] started billing Medicaid in Maine from, [02:27:53] you know, beginning in 2020 and who are [02:27:55] the people who are doing it really, [02:27:56] really well. And what we found right [02:27:58] away was the top company was a company [02:28:01] called Legends Residential. Legends [02:28:03] Residential is a autism home operator [02:28:08] and they start billing uh in uh 2021 at [02:28:13] uh like $3 million and in 2024 they [02:28:17] build $17.34 million. So this is a [02:28:21] company that has grown very quickly [02:28:23] operating autism homes and there hasn't [02:28:25] been a surge in in autism in Maine. So [02:28:28] this company grows very quickly and we [02:28:29] find this pattern of all of the fastest [02:28:32] growing newly created Medicaid providers [02:28:36] in Maine are mainare section 21 [02:28:38] residential home operators. These are [02:28:40] people who operate two bed homes for [02:28:44] autistic or developmentally and [02:28:46] intellectually disabled individuals. [02:28:48] These are adults who can't live by [02:28:52] themselves and they require 247 care. [02:28:55] These are people who can and in some [02:28:58] cases have um harmed themselves just by [02:29:02] eating unsupervised. [02:29:04] So it's you need these are the most [02:29:05] vulnerable people in our society. [02:29:08] [clears throat] [02:29:08] >> These companies have all been created in [02:29:10] the last 5 years. They've taken over a [02:29:12] huge share of these section 21 waiverss [02:29:16] for the um disabled or autistic [02:29:18] population. They're growing in terms of [02:29:20] the money that they're bringing in [02:29:22] through Medicaid hugely. I mean almost [02:29:24] exponentially from 3 million to 17 [02:29:26] million uh in in the span of 3 years. [02:29:29] That's very very great growth for any [02:29:31] business. Medicaid is usually not rich [02:29:34] in high profit margins. Most medic most [02:29:36] businesses that depend on Medicaid are [02:29:38] barely getting by because the [02:29:40] reimbursement rates are low, but these [02:29:42] guys are only getting Medicaid money. [02:29:44] There's no other money coming into these [02:29:45] businesses. Um, so I start looking at [02:29:48] Leg Legends Residential and the CEO is a [02:29:51] guy named Paul Manura who I've [02:29:53] interviewed and he has uh an interesting [02:29:58] history. I talked with uh uh so I found [02:30:02] an interview that Paul Manura did in [02:30:05] 2019 with a Maine TV news outlet and [02:30:08] this is when he just showed up in Maine [02:30:10] and it was your classic thing of he's [02:30:12] come from the Congo, he's a refugee, [02:30:15] he's just happy to be there for his [02:30:16] first Thanksgiving ever. Um and you know [02:30:20] poor starving refugee. [02:30:23] Fast forward from 2019 to now, he's [02:30:26] driving a Mercedes-Benz Gwagon. He also [02:30:28] has a Dodge Charger. He's got an [02:30:30] $800,000 home. Got multiple other [02:30:32] properties in Maine. He runs this big [02:30:34] business. He's also got businesses in [02:30:36] Arizona. He's got businesses in [02:30:38] Massachusetts. Wow. And it's all [02:30:40] happened since then. [02:30:42] >> It's kind of weird. Like [02:30:45] >> Mhm. [02:30:46] >> How did he, you know, just just that is [02:30:48] what caught my eye. Just the rapid rapid [02:30:50] success, the huge amount of money that's [02:30:52] coming into these autism home operators. [02:30:54] like why is there so much proflegate [02:30:57] wealth being displayed by Paul Manura [02:31:01] and Paul's uh uh number two Joe Shamboo [02:31:04] show uh also has a Mercedes-Benz Gwagon. [02:31:07] I photographed it uh last week in front [02:31:09] of a Legends residential care office. [02:31:11] And so we start looking down at all of [02:31:13] these companies and digging into them. [02:31:16] All of the CEOs or directors of these [02:31:20] companies appear to have historical ties [02:31:22] to Rwanda or to be of Rwanda descent and [02:31:26] they all have uh previous license [02:31:29] previous addresses or LLC's or business [02:31:32] filings that tie them to Arizona. [02:31:35] It's weird. From like the 2019 to 2023 [02:31:38] period, they all have these businesses [02:31:39] in Arizona. Some of them are also [02:31:42] >> Why Arizona? That's what we tried to [02:31:44] answer. try to figure out why why do the [02:31:47] why do the people who have the most [02:31:49] successful autism care businesses in [02:31:51] Maine all have ties to Arizona? To give [02:31:55] you an example, we go to visit Paul [02:31:56] Manura's office, the Office of Legends [02:31:58] Residential Care in South Portland. It's [02:32:00] in an office suite. Unlike the home [02:32:03] healthcare offices that the Somali are [02:32:05] running, this is attended. This appears [02:32:06] to be an actual business and there are [02:32:08] people there. The first time I'm there, [02:32:10] I noticed right across the hallway is [02:32:14] Golden Home Group Services, which is [02:32:16] does the exact same thing. And they're [02:32:18] like right in the same building. Like, [02:32:19] that's weird. It's the number two uh [02:32:22] business on my list. Kind of jumped out [02:32:24] at me. And I asked the secretary, I was [02:32:26] like, "So, are you guys the same [02:32:27] business or what's going on here?" The [02:32:28] secretary says, "Oh, I think the the [02:32:30] founders are related or something." I'm [02:32:32] like, [02:32:34] "Well, that's interesting." as a [02:32:36] journalist. And later when I talked with [02:32:39] Paul on the phone for a phone interview, [02:32:40] he said that they're just friends. Um, [02:32:43] but the founder of that uh of Golden [02:32:47] Home Group Services, uh, Michelle [02:32:49] Kanyamo has a sober home in Arizona and [02:32:54] in addition to being an immigration [02:32:55] lawyer for Catholic Charities is a sober [02:32:58] home in Arizona. And I thought that that [02:33:00] was weird. So, we start looking into it [02:33:01] and what we discover is in 2013, in [02:33:04] 2023, there was a sensational indictment [02:33:07] that came down of sober home operators [02:33:10] in Arizona. This was another Medicaid [02:33:13] [clears throat] fraud scandal. I don't [02:33:15] know why it didn't make more national [02:33:17] news, but there was this elaborate [02:33:19] scheme where people were operating sober [02:33:21] homes like Minnesota daycarees, except [02:33:25] for they had real patients. They had [02:33:26] Navajo Native Americans and they were [02:33:29] patient brokering. That's what the [02:33:30] allegation is in the indictment that is [02:33:32] still pending. It's actually been in [02:33:35] 2025 it was expanded. Uh they indicted [02:33:38] another 20 individuals and um entities. [02:33:42] And so it's criminal there's multiple [02:33:45] criminal trials that are playing out [02:33:46] this year and next year for this huge [02:33:49] Medicaid fraud scandal that revolved [02:33:51] around these sober homes where they [02:33:52] would take Native Americans and say like [02:33:55] give us your Medicaid benefits. We'll [02:33:57] bill the taxpayer as if you came here [02:33:59] for rehab for treatment for drug [02:34:01] addiction or alcoholism and we'll give [02:34:03] you a cash kickback and then you can go [02:34:05] to the next one and the next one and the [02:34:07] next one. So just generating huge [02:34:09] amounts of money by providing fake [02:34:12] services again is the allegation in the [02:34:15] indictment. [02:34:17] All of the people who are indicted with [02:34:20] in relation to this happy house was the [02:34:23] name of the sober home. Uh, all of them [02:34:26] are from Rwanda or or have historical [02:34:30] ties to Rwanda. It's weird. And in the [02:34:35] new indictment, I guess the newly added [02:34:38] uh entities in 2025, they added a church [02:34:42] in Talison, Arizona that is alleged to [02:34:45] have wired money by the millions back to [02:34:48] Rwanda. There's in the indictment, [02:34:50] there's listed a $2 million money [02:34:53] transfer back to Rwanda. And I'm [02:34:56] thinking, you know, I'm looking at the [02:34:58] the, you know, the finance minister of [02:35:01] Jubiland and then Money by the Millions [02:35:03] going back to Rwanda. That's really [02:35:06] really weird. And I discover more and [02:35:09] more ties of all these guys. They're [02:35:10] they're they've got previous LLC's. None [02:35:12] of them are directly connected to the [02:35:14] happy house fraud, but at least one of [02:35:15] them runs a sober home in and around [02:35:18] where all these sober homes were busted [02:35:20] for running this model. Uh but they [02:35:22] there it looks like there was this [02:35:25] indictment that came down in 2023. They [02:35:27] get their hand slapped. they got caught [02:35:29] and they kind of moved to another state [02:35:32] cuz that's when the mass migration [02:35:33] starts to Maine and you see the Angolans [02:35:35] and the Congolese and the Rwanda show up [02:35:37] in Maine and then slowly they disperse [02:35:39] into the jobs at these residential care [02:35:42] facilities. So they're currently living [02:35:45] in and [02:35:47] working in these residential care [02:35:49] facilities and billing is being [02:35:50] submitted to Medicaid in their names for [02:35:53] inhabiting these autism care facilities [02:35:56] in Maine. Um that's it looks like the [02:35:59] pattern is [02:36:01] uh moving from state to state trying to [02:36:04] figure out what is the best way to [02:36:06] extract money from a Medicaid program in [02:36:09] a given state based on their laws, their [02:36:11] rules, whatever the facts are on the [02:36:13] ground. And the people who are at the [02:36:16] top of these organizations, we've gone [02:36:18] through and we've pulled their [02:36:19] TransUnion reports. They're all driving [02:36:21] Gwagons. [02:36:23] They're all driving Gwagons. They all [02:36:25] have multiple properties, multiple [02:36:27] mortgages. They're expanding. They're I [02:36:29] mean, this is a the this is a a group of [02:36:32] companies together, their CEOs and their [02:36:35] number TWS and number threes, the people [02:36:36] in control of these organizations. They [02:36:38] own over over a thousand easily [02:36:41] properties in Maine because they're [02:36:43] buying the resident the homes, the [02:36:44] two-bedroom homes to convert to [02:36:46] residential care facilities. And then [02:36:47] they're also buying duplexes and multif [02:36:50] family housing to rent for cash to their [02:36:54] workers. So it's like the the they've [02:36:56] got a this um you know it's a it's a [02:36:59] comprehensive money-m operation that [02:37:01] they have and again it's based on the [02:37:03] flow of migrants over an open border in [02:37:06] order to sustain it. Uh we start talking [02:37:09] with people who are who know these [02:37:12] organizations who have worked for them [02:37:15] who have worked in these houses who have [02:37:18] um worked in the industry um people in [02:37:22] the real estate industry like mortgage [02:37:24] brokers who have done some of these [02:37:25] financial transactions to try to learn [02:37:27] more about what exactly is happening [02:37:29] here. And I also I interviewed Paul [02:37:31] Manera and he insisted that I come into [02:37:33] his office and talk to him. Um, but then [02:37:35] he stopped uh responding to my emails [02:37:37] when I started asking him some hard [02:37:38] questions. He didn't want to talk about [02:37:40] his Mercedes G Wagon. He said he [02:37:42] [laughter] was doing he said he was [02:37:43] doing everything he does to help the [02:37:44] community. I was like, "Well, I was [02:37:46] like, I want to help my community, too, [02:37:48] but how's a G Wagon help that?" And he [02:37:49] was like, "How do you know what I [02:37:50] drive?" Um, so we started interviewing [02:37:53] people who had worked for the company [02:37:55] and we get a picture of what's happening [02:37:56] here. [02:37:57] On the surface, if you look at these [02:37:59] records, they look like they're [02:38:02] discreet entities, discreet corporate [02:38:04] entities, all running their own [02:38:05] businesses, but they're effectively one [02:38:09] informal collective sharing employees. A [02:38:13] former supervisor told us about a [02:38:15] WhatsApp chat with the CEOs of this [02:38:17] company, arrange how they're going to [02:38:19] move the employees around. And so you [02:38:21] have uh central African migrants who [02:38:24] complete a you know a 50-hour online [02:38:27] training course in order to become [02:38:29] qualified to care for a disabled adult [02:38:31] at one of these houses. 50 hours online. [02:38:35] No one checks to make sure you're [02:38:36] actually the person taking it. You don't [02:38:37] have to speak English and that put you [02:38:40] in charge of the care of another human [02:38:42] being. [02:38:43] >> And you don't even have to speak [02:38:44] English. [02:38:45] >> No. In fact, Paul told me 70% of his [02:38:48] employees don't. [02:38:49] How do they communicate with their [02:38:51] patients? [02:38:52] >> It's a very good question. [02:38:53] >> This is a that's not important, is it? [02:38:56] >> It's a very good question, but that gets [02:38:58] to like that's the fundamental baseline [02:39:00] issue is that the the [02:39:04] >> are there patients? [02:39:06] >> It would be better if there weren't [02:39:09] really like that's what having been [02:39:11] working on this investigation and then [02:39:13] seeing what's happening in Minnesota and [02:39:14] the daycarees are don't have people. I'm [02:39:16] like, it would be better if the patients [02:39:19] were fake because the level of [02:39:21] >> So there there is patience. [02:39:22] >> Yes, [02:39:24] we've we've we've we've door knocked [02:39:26] some of these facilities. We've [02:39:28] confirmed that there are patients, [02:39:29] >> man. The people that we talked to [02:39:30] patients, [02:39:32] >> there's I mean there's ethical issues [02:39:34] than the [ __ ] fraud and the money. Is [02:39:36] the actual human being that's going [02:39:38] through this? Are they being cared for? [02:39:40] >> Do you know? The people who have been [02:39:42] inside these facilities say that there [02:39:44] are staggering levels of neglect and [02:39:46] abuse happening. We know of at least two [02:39:49] instances of patients dying. I've seen a [02:39:52] a police report of an adult whose [02:39:56] dietary instructions were, you know, [02:39:58] you're supposed eating. Um he choked to [02:40:01] death in a facility where he's supposed [02:40:03] to have 24/7 residential care. [02:40:07] someone awake, a health care [02:40:08] professional. [02:40:10] He choked to death eating his breakfast. [02:40:14] I've seen the police report. Damn. And [02:40:17] it's happened. Uh I talked with Lewon uh [02:40:21] police officers, Bangor police officers, [02:40:23] Portland police officers from the big [02:40:24] agencies. They'll find disabled adults [02:40:30] wandering the highway. They go and they [02:40:32] grab them. They know where they're [02:40:34] supposed to be. They bring them back to [02:40:36] their resident their taxpayer funded [02:40:38] residential care facility and it's [02:40:41] supposed to have a 3 to1 staffing ratio [02:40:43] which means they're high high need high [02:40:46] you know they they need a lot of care um [02:40:48] 24/7 [02:40:50] >> going on in Portland [02:40:52] >> everywhere [02:40:52] >> you know this there's a [02:40:55] >> Portland with those high-rise brick [02:40:56] buildings [02:40:57] >> those are you know what I'm talking [02:40:58] about [02:40:59] >> yes you're talking [02:41:00] >> is that run by them [02:41:01] >> that's subsidized housing that's um [02:41:03] those are those are just projects The [02:41:05] these are mostly um two-bedroom [02:41:08] residential houses because this that's [02:41:10] specifically what this program is [02:41:11] supposed to do is give disabled adults a [02:41:14] feeling of normaly like it's their home. [02:41:16] They're paying for it with their [02:41:17] Medicaid benefits. [02:41:19] >> There [clears throat] are professionals [02:41:20] who are supposed to be coming in and [02:41:21] taking care of them in their own home. [02:41:24] >> What's happening though is that these [02:41:26] employees are treating it like it's [02:41:28] their home. Their it's their space. It's [02:41:31] their spot to go watch TV or play Xbox. [02:41:34] and the patient gets, you know, hides in [02:41:37] their back room or in the basement, but [02:41:39] the the law enforcement who finds these [02:41:41] people out wandering around will grab [02:41:43] them, bring them back to their house, [02:41:44] and there's nobody there. Supposed to [02:41:45] have it supposed to have three people [02:41:47] there to look after this one person, and [02:41:48] there's no one there. And how long has [02:41:50] that been happening? And are they still [02:41:51] billing for the 24/7 care in the name of [02:41:54] three people? Oh, you bet your ass they [02:41:56] are. Uh, I've talked with over a dozen [02:41:59] people who are familiar with how these [02:42:02] autism homes are operating and there [02:42:05] appears to be a deliberate conspiracy [02:42:08] by these companies, this the the fastest [02:42:10] growing new entrance into the autism [02:42:14] home space to poach disabled adults from [02:42:18] their pre-existing caregivers to bring [02:42:20] them over. And because there's so much [02:42:23] Medicaid money attached to these people, [02:42:26] >> they can they know that each one of [02:42:28] those disabled adults that they bring [02:42:29] into one of their homes [02:42:31] >> is a payday. [02:42:33] >> Yeah. [02:42:33] >> I mean, Legends Residential, [02:42:36] the records that Paul Monura testified [02:42:39] to the state legislature in January of [02:42:41] 2025. He said he cares for 40 plus [02:42:44] individuals with autism or intellectual [02:42:47] and developmental disorders. that same [02:42:50] year he gets uh or the year prior he got [02:42:52] 17.3 million. So make that math work for [02:42:55] me. You've got 40 plus people you're [02:42:58] caring for 17.34 million and the state [02:43:02] has 44 section 21 waiverss for him. [02:43:05] Works up to like $400,000 per patient. [02:43:07] It's a lot of money [02:43:09] >> and he could be maybe there's another [02:43:10] Medicaid program that he's dipping into [02:43:12] like section 29 which is not residential [02:43:14] care. It's a different level of autism [02:43:16] care. [02:43:16] There's so much money flowing into these [02:43:18] organizations that it doesn't make [02:43:20] sense. And if it's the first thing that [02:43:22] I find looking at the spending data, you [02:43:24] have to imagine that we've got this [02:43:25] whole department of fraud. We have this [02:43:27] whole department of adult protective [02:43:28] services who are supposed to take care [02:43:30] of disabled adults who are supposed to [02:43:32] be the the people that are called when [02:43:35] there's abuse of adults happening or [02:43:37] neglective adults happening. And they [02:43:39] are being called by the people I've [02:43:41] talked with who are who have been inside [02:43:43] these houses. they are being called and [02:43:44] nothing's being done about it. Uh it's [02:43:47] this it's and it's so infuriating. I [02:43:50] talked with a clinical professional who [02:43:53] worked with [02:43:56] uh these disabled adults before and [02:43:59] after this all happened from about 2018 [02:44:02] to 2023 is when it really kind of [02:44:04] blossomed. And so she's seen the quality [02:44:08] of life and the um uh I guess h how [02:44:13] these people are doing in terms of their [02:44:14] mental health. Some of them have, you [02:44:15] know, the cognitive ability of an [02:44:17] 8-year-old or they've got different [02:44:18] disabilities, but she's had a stable [02:44:21] relationship with them over a period of [02:44:22] years and knows them and cares for them [02:44:24] and provides them, you know, clinical [02:44:26] care. and she's seen their their quality [02:44:29] of life just go [02:44:31] talking about, [02:44:34] you know, uh there's neglect that's [02:44:36] happening in the form of sleeping. The [02:44:38] care the residential care professionals [02:44:40] are not supposed to be sleeping. So, [02:44:41] they're they're showing up and it's [02:44:43] they're working 120 hours a week because [02:44:45] they're being shuffled around all these [02:44:47] different LLC's in this informal, you [02:44:50] know, [02:44:51] autism racket you can call it. Um, and [02:44:55] sleeping is condoned. There just this [02:44:57] kind of like benol neglect is condoned. [02:45:00] >> It's just sit there. [02:45:02] >> Yes. [02:45:02] >> Just sit there and be a body in a house. [02:45:04] Do whatever the [ __ ] you want. We don't [02:45:06] care. We do not care. [02:45:08] >> Exactly. But you've got baseline. You've [02:45:11] got you've still got these disabled [02:45:13] adults that you have to keep alive if [02:45:15] you want that money coming in. And these [02:45:17] are people with feeding instructions, [02:45:19] medication instructions written in [02:45:21] English. They don't read. 70% of them, [02:45:24] the founder of the company admits 70% of [02:45:26] them do not speak English. And you know, [02:45:28] he recommends English language [02:45:30] instruction, but it's not mandated by [02:45:31] the the state. It's not a requirement of [02:45:34] uh to become a direct support [02:45:36] professional. It's not a requirement. [02:45:38] And uh that results in um so much just [02:45:42] like callous deprivity of like one [02:45:45] individual I'm told is fed boiled [02:45:47] chicken only boiled chicken because they [02:45:49] figured out he's got some dietary [02:45:51] restrictions and they've just got it [02:45:53] like it's kind of complicated but they [02:45:55] don't care about the details. They just [02:45:56] know that if they feed him boiled [02:45:57] chicken he stays alive. So his roommate [02:46:00] at that house also gets the same diet, [02:46:03] boiled chicken, and they feed him uh you [02:46:06] know the they're often making the food [02:46:09] that is um you know [02:46:11] >> that they culturally desire and feeding [02:46:13] it to them. Um they're not celebrating [02:46:15] Christmas and Thanksgiving, which might [02:46:17] seem like a small thing, but these are [02:46:20] people who are again they're living [02:46:23] their entire life in residential care. [02:46:25] They have nothing. You give them this [02:46:27] routine. You put out the Christmas tree, [02:46:29] you make them feel happy and special [02:46:31] about what's happening. And that's what [02:46:32] they had previously when they were in [02:46:34] homes run by Americans who spoke [02:46:37] English. [02:46:39] >> Man, that is sad. The people that I've [02:46:42] talked with, [02:46:43] all of them come back to [02:46:46] that there has to be at some level state [02:46:50] not just approval or turning the blind [02:46:51] eye to this but a a a directive to make [02:46:56] this happen because some of these [02:46:58] individuals are wards of the state. [02:47:00] They're they have no family on the [02:47:02] outside. they're disabled and they don't [02:47:04] have someone on the outside who's going [02:47:06] to come to that residential home and [02:47:07] take them out to, you know, go to the [02:47:09] mall or something and just check on [02:47:10] them, see how their quality of living [02:47:12] is. Um, those were the ones who were [02:47:16] targeted in 2023, 2024, removed from [02:47:20] their homes that had they had been in [02:47:23] for in some cases six years that are run [02:47:24] by Americans and placed with these new [02:47:28] startups [02:47:31] against their will in some cases. Some [02:47:33] of them are are verbal. They they were [02:47:35] able to say, "I don't want to. This has [02:47:37] been my home for six years. I don't want [02:47:38] to go." And now they're capable of [02:47:40] saying, "My my residential caretakers [02:47:44] don't speak English. They don't do [02:47:45] Christmas. They don't do Thanksgiving. I [02:47:47] don't like the food. I don't want to be [02:47:49] here." And there's a list that [02:47:51] circulates amongst residential care [02:47:53] providers. One of the one of these [02:47:55] disabled adults says, "I want a new [02:47:57] arrangement. I don't want to live here." [02:47:59] [snorts] It's their money. And the [02:48:01] disability rights act requires you to [02:48:03] honor their wishes. These aren't [02:48:04] prisoners, right? They're not like, you [02:48:06] know, slaves of the autism care [02:48:09] operator. [02:48:09] >> No advocates on [02:48:11] >> none. [02:48:13] And the and the ones that they're [02:48:14] supposed to have are failing them. The [02:48:16] government taxpayer funded advocates [02:48:19] that are the the people who are supposed [02:48:21] to advocate for them are failing them. [02:48:23] Uh, but on this list, if they say they [02:48:26] want to be moved, that list is supposed [02:48:27] to be circulated amongst all the [02:48:30] residential home care operators. I'm [02:48:32] told that that list is not being [02:48:34] circulated amongst the ones run by [02:48:36] Americans. [02:48:39] And again, this is we're talking about [02:48:41] like moving these people out of a home, [02:48:43] that list, um, the adult protective [02:48:47] services, the long-term care on budsman, [02:48:49] um, the [clears throat] guardians, the [02:48:50] taxpayer money, all of this. There are [02:48:52] so many points where someone in the [02:48:55] government should be able to step in and [02:48:56] be like, "This is [ __ ] up. What are we [02:48:59] doing?" And people are dying and the [02:49:01] police are being called all the time to [02:49:03] these homes and having to deal with [02:49:05] this. They're finding severe neglect and [02:49:08] abuse that is just so I mean I was like [02:49:12] mixed talking with some of these people. [02:49:13] I'm filled with just a mix of homicidal [02:49:15] rage and just like why is this [02:49:17] happening? Why why aren't people talking [02:49:19] about this? It's a very hard story to [02:49:22] get into and to tell and to really [02:49:23] figure out what's going on. Uh but also [02:49:26] just horror at the levels of abuse and [02:49:29] neglect that will be happening in these [02:49:31] homes that we'll never know about [02:49:32] because the victims can't advocate for [02:49:35] themselves. You know, your testimony as [02:49:38] someone with the cognitive capacity of [02:49:40] an 8-year-old, if you say you were [02:49:42] sexually assaulted, as some of these [02:49:44] have individuals have alleged, I've seen [02:49:46] the police reports, [02:49:49] you they'll never stand up in court. [02:49:50] That'll be just settled and they've got [02:49:52] the in these autism home operators, they [02:49:54] have the cash to go settle these. [02:49:56] >> Damn. And it's I mean just just the [02:50:00] residential care facilities that the [02:50:02] section 21 operators control hundreds if [02:50:06] not thousands easily thousands when you [02:50:08] add the additional properties that [02:50:10] they're buying [02:50:12] in order to rent to their [02:50:13] non-English-speaking employees. [02:50:15] >> Yeah. [02:50:15] >> So they've got them they're billing for [02:50:17] them uh 80 to 120 hours a week in these [02:50:20] homes and they're kicking them out and [02:50:21] they stay you know eight to an apartment [02:50:24] uh in Lewon or Auburn. um talked with a [02:50:27] mortgage professional who said, you [02:50:29] know, she's seen just last year she saw [02:50:32] 200 applications come in from these [02:50:34] Africans who are direct support [02:50:36] professionals and they say that they [02:50:38] work 90 or 100 hours a week in these [02:50:41] direct uh support jobs, which are decent [02:50:46] paying but not super lucrative jobs. and [02:50:48] they're buying their third or fourth [02:50:51] property on a mortgage and they have no [02:50:55] schedule E to report rental income for [02:50:58] all the other properties they have. And [02:51:00] when you ask what's going on with that, [02:51:02] Jeez, [02:51:03] >> the language barrier rears its ugly head [02:51:05] and they can't explain what's going on. [02:51:07] So you [02:51:09] you've got uh yet again another [02:51:13] [clears throat] [02:51:14] uh what I would say is fairly described [02:51:16] as a conspiracy to exploit the people of [02:51:19] Maine, our most vulnerable disabled [02:51:21] population to enrich yourself from the [02:51:24] taxpayers that for whatever reason the [02:51:29] powers of be are just turning a blind [02:51:30] eye to. And maybe they don't know that [02:51:32] it's happening and they will now, but [02:51:35] it's uh it's infuriating. I mean, I've [02:51:39] I've interviewed so many people who have [02:51:40] worked in these houses and have said, [02:51:42] "We tried to blow the whistle on this. [02:51:43] We tried to complain, and we were told, [02:51:45] if you want to keep your license in [02:51:46] whatever field you're in, are you'll [02:51:48] stop talking about this?" Yes. I have a [02:51:51] I have an interview that we'll release [02:51:52] with a clinical professional who said [02:51:55] she tried to complain about this and she [02:51:57] was told that you'll lose your license [02:51:59] if you press this and and she knew of [02:52:02] four other people she said that were [02:52:04] told similarly. So the people have tried [02:52:06] to complain about this but it boils down [02:52:08] to [02:52:09] the the disabled individual who's upset [02:52:12] about the quality of care they're [02:52:13] getting. Well, they're just racist. [02:52:16] That's the only reason they're [02:52:17] complaining. [02:52:18] >> Yeah. or the, you know, the social [02:52:20] worker or the clinical professional or [02:52:22] the supervisor or the direct support [02:52:24] professional, whatever it is. Like, if [02:52:26] you complain about this idea that [02:52:28] Maine's most vulnerable disabled people [02:52:30] are being thrown into the m of a [02:52:33] non-English-speaking 24/7 residential [02:52:35] care setting, you're just racist. You [02:52:39] can't. It's not that you have just like [02:52:41] common sense and you see the the [02:52:43] language gap would degrade the quality [02:52:47] of life and the dignity of these people. [02:52:49] You have to have some evil motive for [02:52:52] not thinking that that's okay. Uh and [02:52:56] it's I mean again all these people are [02:52:58] driving Mercedes G Wagons. [02:53:00] >> This is [ __ ] crazy man. [02:53:02] >> You know if if I was we're funded [02:53:04] through uh donations. Main wire is part [02:53:07] of a nonprofit. If I was driving around [02:53:09] in a Mercedes G Wagon, I think people [02:53:11] would have some questions. People would [02:53:12] want to know, geez, how much money is is [02:53:15] going to the main wire? Like, are you [02:53:16] are you using that money effectively if [02:53:18] Steve's driving around in a G Wagon? [02:53:20] Well, hold on a second. Everybody at the [02:53:21] Main Wire has G Wagons. Well, what's [02:53:23] going on here? So, I think it's totally [02:53:24] fair to ask questions about this and the [02:53:28] fact that they're expanding and they all [02:53:29] have ties to Arizona and one of them is [02:53:32] a lawyer for Catholic Charities, the [02:53:34] very group that shepherded the Central [02:53:38] African migrants into Maine from 2019 to [02:53:41] 2023. [02:53:42] And Catholic Charities, by the way, also [02:53:44] has an office in Tulles, Arizona, where [02:53:47] the sober homes orbit [02:53:51] where the sober homes were and where the [02:53:54] I guess the indictment uh of happy house [02:53:57] centers and where that church is that [02:53:59] was wiring money back to Rwanda. [02:54:01] >> Well, [02:54:12] What do you suggest people do? I mean, [02:54:14] this this I mean that just What do you [02:54:17] do about this? [02:54:19] Nobody of any importance seems to give a [02:54:21] [ __ ] I shouldn't say importance with [02:54:24] any power with any with any ability to [02:54:28] actually [ __ ] do something, [02:54:34] you know? I I don't really know. And [02:54:36] this one is this is hard because every [02:54:39] at every institutional level, you know, [02:54:41] we have a an independent unbudsman, the [02:54:44] long care budsman is supposed to be [02:54:45] writing annual reports about what's [02:54:47] going on and blowing the whistle, but we [02:54:49] have a a child welfare unbudsman in [02:54:50] Maine, too. And every year the child [02:54:52] welfare budsman come out and says, "Hey, [02:54:53] kids are dying. This is this is corrupt [02:54:55] and it's broken." Um, that's that's [02:54:58] broken down. Adult protective services [02:55:00] doesn't want to pay attention to this. [02:55:02] Doesn't want any attention drawn to it. [02:55:03] the Office of Aging and Disability [02:55:05] Services, which runs under the health [02:55:07] department, they don't want to do [02:55:08] anything about this. Um, the federal [02:55:10] government, I don't know if they have [02:55:11] the ability to come in and investigate [02:55:13] this, but again, you could turn off the [02:55:15] money. You can turn off the money. You [02:55:18] know, these businesses, they can have [02:55:20] the money turned off. Uh, but unlike the [02:55:23] fake daycarees and the fake home uh [02:55:26] healthcare agencies, because you have [02:55:28] real patients, that adds another dynamic [02:55:31] to it. there needs to be a plan in place [02:55:33] to take care of these people. And we're [02:55:35] talking about um between 3,000 and 4,000 [02:55:39] disabled adults who have these waiverss [02:55:41] that unlock this residential care. So, [02:55:44] you've got to accommodate that. You've [02:55:45] got to take care of these people. And [02:55:46] again, a lot of them don't have family [02:55:48] on the outside. They have no one. They [02:55:50] have no they have no one except for a [02:55:52] small group of providers who have talked [02:55:56] to me or have sent me emails or caring [02:55:58] for them sometimes at their own [02:56:00] financial loss, you know, sending them [02:56:02] Christmas presents in their new homes. [02:56:05] Um, they have they have nobody. And [02:56:08] these are the exact people that the [02:56:10] Medicaid program is supposed to help. [02:56:13] Yeah, this is like the quintessential [02:56:17] social safety debt need is there are [02:56:19] people in our society who can't go out [02:56:22] and pull themselves up by their [02:56:23] bootstraps because of like a [ __ ] luck, [02:56:26] bad roll of the dice. They were born [02:56:28] into a situation where they are disabled [02:56:30] and they can't just go out and work 50 [02:56:33] hours a week or start a company or [02:56:34] something. And so we have a social [02:56:36] safety net to take care of them. And we [02:56:38] are failing [02:56:40] big time. And there are people taking [02:56:42] advantage of that. There are people [02:56:43] turning a blind eye to that. And the [02:56:46] money has to be turned off to people who [02:56:47] aren't following the rules or who are [02:56:50] tolerating this abuse and neglect [02:56:52] because it's better for their margins. [02:56:54] Got to turn the money off. And uh you [02:56:59] have to be ready for what happens after [02:57:02] that. Um, but again, [02:57:05] this is a very complicated one because [02:57:08] it's less it's less blatant that there's [02:57:12] Medicaid fraud happening. You know, if [02:57:14] there's no kids in the daycare, boom, [02:57:15] that's fraud. Let's claw all that money [02:57:17] back. Well, if there's actually if [02:57:19] there's actually a patient there, well, [02:57:21] you can say that they were providing [02:57:23] substandard care, non-English-speaking [02:57:25] care. You can [02:57:26] >> I think you got to find some family [02:57:27] members. [02:57:30] Yeah. [02:57:32] if there are any. I mean, a lot of these [02:57:34] people are probably solo parents are [02:57:36] dead. [02:57:36] >> Yeah. They're wards of the state, [02:57:38] >> you know, and um so there might not be [02:57:40] anybody, but man, if you could find [02:57:42] somebody to blow the whistle on abuse, [02:57:46] >> we have uh [02:57:47] >> that [02:57:48] >> we have interviews. [02:57:49] >> We have interviews that we'll release in [02:57:51] conjunction with this with people who [02:57:52] have been inside these houses. [02:57:54] >> It's a tricky one though because we [02:57:56] don't want to invade their privacy. We [02:57:58] don't want to go try to interview these [02:58:00] adults who it's it's weird. It's a weird [02:58:02] ethical issue. Can these people consent [02:58:04] to a an on video interview? [02:58:06] >> And can somebody with that mental [02:58:09] mental disorder, that handicap, whatever [02:58:11] you want to call it? [02:58:12] >> Exactly. [02:58:13] >> And there's also there's lots of um [02:58:16] there's other issues with the um the [02:58:20] autism home operators that predate this. [02:58:23] uh you know they've run into some [02:58:25] regulatory issues as well and they don't [02:58:26] want to be viewed as trying to take out [02:58:29] the competition. And the other thing is [02:58:31] similar to the the Chinese organized [02:58:34] crime and basically every government [02:58:37] corruption fraud organized crime story [02:58:39] we report on in the state of Maine. [02:58:41] There is this um uh myasma of fear that [02:58:47] hangs over the state that you're going [02:58:49] to be retaliated against if you blow the [02:58:52] whistle on wrongdoing. You're going to [02:58:54] if you speak out against government [02:58:56] corruption, the state is going to come [02:58:58] in and [ __ ] ruin you. If you're a cop [02:59:00] and you're two or three years away from [02:59:02] having your pension vest, the state's [02:59:04] going to come in and they're going to [02:59:04] [ __ ] with you. Like the attorney [02:59:06] general, he does all the police involved [02:59:07] shootings there. whether it was a [02:59:09] justified shooting or not. You're gonna [02:59:11] criticize the attorney general when he [02:59:13] might hold your fate in the palm of his [02:59:15] hand doing one of those investigations. [02:59:17] Um Rick Savage of Sunday River Brewing [02:59:19] Company, he goes on Tucker show back [02:59:22] when he was on Fox and criticizes the CO [02:59:24] lockdowns. State comes in and takes his [02:59:26] liquor license away. [02:59:27] >> No [ __ ] [02:59:28] >> He's forced to sell his business. They [02:59:30] sent agents into his restaurant to like [02:59:32] measure the plexiglass and see like if [02:59:34] they were forcing people to put their [02:59:35] masks on. Took his liquor license away. [02:59:38] He's forced to sell his business. He's [02:59:39] running a new one in New Hampshire now. [02:59:41] Uh Dr. Mel Nass goes on the radio. She's [02:59:43] a leftwing doctor, by the way, goes on [02:59:45] the radio and criticizes vaccine policy [02:59:47] co lockdowns. They hunt her down and [02:59:49] take her medical license away. So, those [02:59:52] are just some discreet examples. But [02:59:54] this culture of fear that the state is [02:59:56] going to come take away your livelihood [02:59:59] and ruin you if you speak out is very [03:00:02] real and it hangs over everything we do. [03:00:04] Everything. I was trying to figure out [03:00:06] how much a stamp cost in Maine if you [03:00:09] send out a government letter because [03:00:11] Janet Mills sent out checks to voters [03:00:14] before the 22 uh 2022 election instead [03:00:16] of doing just the electronic benefit [03:00:18] transfers. It was supposedly co [03:00:21] stimulus, but she sent them checks with [03:00:23] a letter that was like, "Hey, I gave you [03:00:25] this money, you know, wink and a nod. [03:00:26] Vote vote for Janet." So, I was trying [03:00:28] to figure out what was the added expense [03:00:30] >> of doing that snail mail as opposed to [03:00:32] just the electronic deposits. And the [03:00:34] guy I'm talking with who runs the post [03:00:36] office is like, "You trying to you [03:00:37] trying to get me fired, man? I got a I [03:00:39] got a uh you know, an ex-wife and four [03:00:41] kids." I was like, "What?" He he was [03:00:43] scared to tell me how much a stamp costs [03:00:46] because he knew the implications of [03:00:49] having information he provided embarrass [03:00:52] >> the regime in power. But that's just [03:00:54] like that hangs over the the Somali [03:00:57] welfare fraud, the whistleblower, Chris [03:00:58] Bernardini, who came forward. The only [03:01:00] reason he did is cuz he's in Florida, [03:01:03] moved to Florida and worked remotely. [03:01:06] And when he came out, instead of [03:01:08] contacting him to hear his allegations, [03:01:11] he got a letter from Main Revenue [03:01:12] Services. They audited him. [03:01:17] >> Jeez. And you know what they found? [03:01:19] Gateway was withholding state income [03:01:21] taxes from his paycheck even though he'd [03:01:23] moved to Florida, which has no state [03:01:24] income tax. So, he's actually owed money [03:01:27] by the state of Maine. And they audited [03:01:29] him [03:01:30] >> and then told him, [03:01:32] >> "We're not going to give you that money [03:01:33] back unless you file next year. [03:01:36] >> Everyone who speaks out against [03:01:38] corruption in the state, they find [03:01:40] whatever lever of power they can." [03:01:42] >> Have they done anything to you? [03:01:43] >> They have. I mean, they've tried. I [03:01:45] mean, they've tried to come after me um [03:01:47] you know, rhetorically and legally for [03:01:50] sure, but it's like I don't get [03:01:51] government money and I don't need a [03:01:53] license to do journalism. Actually uh [03:01:56] just earlier as all of these welfare [03:01:59] fraud scandals are breaking my reporter [03:02:01] John Featherston is trying to go into [03:02:03] the state house to interview Deca D [03:02:05] former employee of the company big [03:02:07] figure in this entire story in this [03:02:09] national scandal and the [03:02:10] sergeant-at-arms at the door tells him [03:02:12] he's not allowed in tries to bar him [03:02:14] from entering and then the you know the [03:02:16] house speaker and the Democrats all lie [03:02:17] and pretend like they didn't but three [03:02:19] separate times told him he wasn't [03:02:21] allowed on the floor and we made enough [03:02:22] of a fuss so that eventually they had [03:02:24] they'll allow him in because it's open [03:02:25] for press. It always has been. It been [03:02:28] 15 years I've been doing this. The House [03:02:30] Chamber floor has always been open for [03:02:31] press. But they do little things like [03:02:33] that and they're trying to create a [03:02:34] credentiing process. They tried to kick [03:02:36] us out of COVID briefings. They try to [03:02:38] limit your access to information uh and [03:02:41] smear you uh and uh there's other, you [03:02:44] know, legal things that they do. Uh you [03:02:46] know, subpoena you to try to hunt down [03:02:48] your sources so that they can punish [03:02:50] those people. You know, there's [03:02:53] >> but we're in a privileged position [03:02:55] because we're not relying on government [03:02:57] money. We don't have government [03:02:58] licenses. Almost everybody in Maine does [03:03:01] because we we've crossed an event [03:03:02] horizon where everybody is relying on [03:03:05] government money in some way. Whether [03:03:07] you're in the hospital and you're [03:03:08] relying on Medicare, Medicaid, um, or [03:03:10] you're in a big construction company and [03:03:12] you're relying on Department of [03:03:13] Transportation contract, everybody in [03:03:16] our society has a pinch point that can [03:03:18] be tweaked if they come out and say what [03:03:20] they really mean. And it it it's this [03:03:23] Orwellian control system that has been [03:03:26] exercised, I mean, just taken to [03:03:28] extremes in Maine for 8 years in [03:03:31] conjunction with the migrant-based [03:03:34] political conspiracies that we've been [03:03:36] talking about, which has just turned [03:03:38] Maine into a place that I am not [03:03:41] familiar with. It's a not a not a place. [03:03:43] It's not the place I grew up in. [03:03:45] >> You think you'll stay? [03:03:47] >> I mean, we'll see. [03:03:49] It's very much an open question. depends [03:03:52] on how the 2026 election goes. I'm never [03:03:54] going to leave the the fight. I'm never [03:03:56] going to stop doing what I'm doing. [03:03:59] >> Um but the the cost of housing in part [03:04:04] because there's so much money coming in [03:04:06] to buy up the houses to either turn them [03:04:08] into flop houses for Chinese cannabis [03:04:11] farmers or uh you know, African Medicaid [03:04:15] uh uh you know, autism home operators. I [03:04:18] mean, we're talking about thousands of [03:04:19] houses that have been taken off the [03:04:20] market at a price way above what [03:04:23] workingass mayors should be paying. So, [03:04:24] the cost of housing is extreme. The [03:04:26] schools suck. You know, there's taxes [03:04:28] are really, really high. Spending is [03:04:30] through the roof, but nothing is getting [03:04:31] better. Uh the the only thing that's [03:04:34] gotten better, honestly, Sean, is [03:04:36] they're no longer giving away free [03:04:37] boofing kits. [03:04:39] >> Because you better because of you. [03:04:41] Because of you. You embarrassed them. [03:04:43] That clip went so viral that they [03:04:45] >> Well, we had a couple of people reach [03:04:47] out. Uh there was a there was a man a [03:04:51] count I think it was a sheriff's [03:04:52] department here in Tennessee. I can't [03:04:55] remember exactly which county. Maybe it [03:04:57] was a police but they're investigating [03:04:59] all of the [03:05:01] local dispensaries. [03:05:03] >> Yeah, you guys had a quick crackdown. [03:05:05] That's that's how by the way a [03:05:06] responsive, healthy functioning [03:05:09] government works is when a journalist [03:05:11] reports on something the law enforcement [03:05:13] people say like well that that's not [03:05:15] right. That shouldn't work. let's go see [03:05:17] what's going on. And they go in and they [03:05:18] do those kind of inspections. [03:05:20] >> Well, it sounds like your law [03:05:21] enforcement is doing that. It just gets [03:05:22] cut somewhere. [03:05:24] >> They are, but it's hard. Uh the sheriffs [03:05:28] are popularly elected, so they're not [03:05:30] totally they don't have the same uh [03:05:34] levers of control over them that some of [03:05:37] the other law enforcement do. The state [03:05:38] police definitely do. State police are [03:05:40] the people ideally suited to deal with [03:05:42] some of this, but they're, you know, [03:05:44] controlled by politicians. [03:05:46] >> The local police in Lewon or Portland, [03:05:49] they're controlled by politicians, [03:05:51] >> you know. So, they do they want to do [03:05:53] the right thing. There's so many people [03:05:54] in Maine who want to do the right thing. [03:05:57] And a lot of them I have this experience [03:06:00] every every time I go into the field all [03:06:02] the time, every week going out and [03:06:04] talking with people. And when they know [03:06:05] that somebody wants to hear their story, [03:06:07] their eyes light up because they're [03:06:09] like, I've got a story to tell. And you [03:06:11] would be stunned by the stories that [03:06:13] these people have to tell. And there's [03:06:16] there we have I mean I could keep a team [03:06:18] of 50 investigative reporters busy just [03:06:21] with what's happening in Maine. We have [03:06:22] so much. We're like drowning. We're a [03:06:24] triage unit, [03:06:25] >> taking the stories that we think are [03:06:27] >> the most important and focusing on [03:06:29] those. But, uh, it's all it all goes [03:06:34] back to the control of the political [03:06:38] regime, the the the power that they [03:06:41] wield over society by being able to pull [03:06:43] your funding or pull your license or get [03:06:47] you fired or sick a mob after you to [03:06:50] get, you know, 50 [clears throat] [03:06:52] one-star reviews on your restaurant [03:06:55] because you did a social media post [03:06:57] backing a conservative schoolboard [03:06:59] candidate or something like that there's [03:07:01] this crazy tool of system of control [03:07:03] that they've created and um the the [03:07:08] migrant industrial complex is just a [03:07:11] part of that is a big part. [03:07:13] >> It's a significant part, [03:07:16] >> man. [03:07:18] >> Well, Steve, I appreciate what you're [03:07:20] doing, man. [03:07:21] >> Thanks. [03:07:22] >> I appreciate you having me in again. I [03:07:23] wish some and someday I'll come in here [03:07:25] and we'll tell a happy story about a [03:07:28] turnaround in Maine. Something tells me [03:07:30] that's not happening anytime soon, but I [03:07:33] hope it does. [03:07:33] >> I hope we can get there. I think there's [03:07:35] enough good people in here. [03:07:36] >> I do wonder what we will talk about next [03:07:37] time. [03:07:39] I [03:07:40] >> have a few ideas. [03:07:41] >> O, [03:07:44] what are they? [laughter] [03:07:46] >> Criminal conspiracies. [03:07:48] >> Right on. [03:07:49] >> You can bet. [03:07:50] >> Well, Steve, thanks for coming, man. I [03:07:52] really appreciate [music] it. It's [03:07:53] always good to see you. Thank you very [03:07:55] much. I can't wait. Until next time. 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