Somali UN Ambassador Linked To Ohio Health Care Company Sanctioned For Medicaid Fraud, HHS Says
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s permanent representative to the United Nations and the current president of the U.N. Security Council, is associated with an Ohio-based home health care company that the federal government previously took action against following a Medicaid fraud conviction.
“I can confirm public speculation that Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman, Permanent Representative of Somalia to the UN and President of the Security Council, is in fact associated with Progressive Health Care Services, a home health agency in Cincinnati,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a Jan. 5 post on X.
“HHS has previously taken action against Progressive in response to a conviction for Medicaid fraud. More to come.”
O’Neill and HHS did not immediately provide details about the nature of the Medicaid fraud case or specify what enforcement actions were taken against Progressive Health Care Services.
The Epoch Times has contacted Progressive Health Care Services for comment, including details about the referenced Medicaid fraud conviction, any enforcement actions taken, and the company’s current regulatory status. No response was received by publication time.
Osman’s ties to the Ohio company drew widespread attention last week after people on social media circulated records suggesting he held a senior corporate role while simultaneously serving as Somalia’s top diplomat to the United Nations.
Screenshots of Osman’s LinkedIn profile, shared by the Libs of TikTok social media account, list him as having served as “Managing Director” of Progressive Health Care Services from 2014 to May 2019—overlapping with his tenure as Somalia’s permanent representative in New York. Other publicly available records indicate he was also listed as president and chief executive officer of the company.
Libs of TikTok further reported that the firm’s National Provider Identifier appeared on a federal exclusion list under a code associated with Medicare and Medicaid-related crimes. HHS has not publicly confirmed those specific details.
Osman is serving as president of the U.N. Security Council for January 2026, a rotating position held by member states on a monthly basis.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Somalia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations seeking comment from Osman on the HHS statement and his association with Progressive Health Care Services. No reply was received by publication time.
Context of Broader Fraud Investigations
The disclosure involving the U.N. ambassador comes as federal and state authorities investigate what officials have described as large-scale fraud schemes involving government-funded programs across several states.
In Minnesota, the Feeding Our Future case—now the largest pandemic-related fraud prosecution in U.S. history—has resulted in dozens of convictions. Federal prosecutors allege that organizers falsely claimed to provide meals to children while diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.
Additional investigations into Medicaid-funded services, including home health care and autism therapy programs, are ongoing. Federal officials have said the total fraud exposure across just a subset of Minnesota’s Medicaid programs could exceed $9 billion.
President Donald Trump and senior administration officials have recently taken enforcement action against Minnesota, including freezing federal child care funds after alleged fraudulent day care schemes were uncovered.
FBI Director Kash Patel recently revealed that federal officials have indicted dozens of people in an alleged $250 million scheme in Minnesota that allegedly included crimes such as wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
The Small Business Administration recently suspended nearly 6,900 Minnesota borrowers from future federal loan programs after reviewing pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan approvals. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the borrowers had received roughly $400 million in loans now under investigation.
Amid mounting scrutiny, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, announced on Jan. 5 that he would not seek reelection, saying he wanted to focus on combating fraud instead of campaigning.