Overview

• Asha Farhan Hassan, 28, was charged with one count of wire fraud in a criminal information, a filing that reporting says signals a waived grand jury and an expected guilty plea.
• Prosecutors allege her company, Smart Therapy LLC, obtained more than $14 million from Minnesota’s EIDBI autism program by billing for services that were not provided or not covered.
• Court documents say Smart Therapy recruited families in the Somali community, paid parents $300 to $1,500 per child in kickbacks, and used unqualified 18- and 19-year-old relatives as behavioral technicians.
• Hassan is also accused of falsely claiming nearly 200,000 meals under Feeding Our Future, securing about $465,000 through fake meal counts, attendance rosters, and invoices.
• Authorities say she split proceeds with partners, sent hundreds of thousands of dollars overseas including for real estate in Kenya, and note this is the first charge in an ongoing autism-provider investigation connected to broader fraud cases; she is the 76th defendant tied to Feeding Our Future.