WASHINGTON — Maine’s Medicaid program was taken for millions of dollars by a contractor whose founder and CEO sought political office in his native Somalia last year, a whistleblower has claimed.
The controversy surrounding Portland-based Gateway Community Services has drawn comparisons to the $1 billion social services fraud scandal roiling Minnesota, which has led to criminal charges against dozens of members of that state’s Somali diaspora.
Christopher Bernardini, who worked as a program coordinator at Gateway between May 2018 and April 2025, claimed to NewsNation that his former employer billed taxpayers for services that weren’t provided and falsified records to support the fraud.
“I just couldn’t fathom it — I thought we were helping people; I thought this was all on the up-and-up,” Bernardini, who has since moved to Florida, told the outlet.
“I have a passion for helping people, and I thought that we were doing the right thing this whole time.”
Gateway was contracted with Maine’s Medicaid service, known as MaineCare, to assist elderly, disabled and low-income residents. On its website, the organization claims to offer programs that “help people navigate care, understand insurance and safety net programs, and access essentials like housing and food.
“The team also provides workforce support, helping individuals identify employment opportunities, training, and certifications to build skills for stability and long-term wellbeing.”
In fact, Bernardini claims, Gateway falsified a monitoring system meant to track movements of field staff to make it seem like they were visiting clients, whether that was the case or not.
“I had clients calling me to tell me their staff hadn’t shown up and I was told to bill those hours [to MaineCare] anyway,” the whistleblower claimed. “It just got worse and worse until I started really putting up a stink.”
State investigators had long had their eye on Gateway, finding that MaineCare overpaid the organization by $776,000 over 2017 and 2018.
But according to Bernardini, the fraud kicked into high gear during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal government doled out billions of dollars in forgiveable Paycheck Protection Program loans.
“All of a sudden, I started seeing these staff come aboard,” Bernardini recounted to NewsNation. “They’d be on board for two or three weeks, no hours worked. I’d put in their training hours … and I started seeing bonuses, $2,000 bonuses, going to these staff that had only been with us for two weeks.
“Never worked a shift with a client and yet the PPP loan comes, they’re giving $2,000 away like they’re lollipops at a doctor’s office and I’m like, ‘Where the hell’s my $2,000 bonus? I’ve been here six, seven years.’”
A second source, a former Gateway employee who still works in social services in Maine, backed up Bernardini’s accusations.
“I saw many things happening that shouldn’t have been,” this person told the outlet. “Timecards being manipulated to show services being provided that were not — and times also being manipulated.”
Gateway took in $28.8 million from MaineCare between 2019 and 2024, according to documents received by conservative outlet Maine Wire via a state Freedom of Access Act request.
Bernardini said he initially reported Gateway to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General in April 2024 and was told the matter was outside the feds’ jurisdiction. He then submitted a tip to the Maine state auditor’s office and was asked to provide additional information several months later.
This past April, Gateway terminated Bernardini’s contract and two months later, he received an email from the Maine auditor’s office asking if he had “communicated with any Federal agencies about this issue with Gateway Community Services LLC.”
Gateway founder Abdullahi Ali was born in Somalia and settled in Maine following a stint in a Kenyan refugee camp. Last year, NewsNation reported, he sought the presidency of Jubaland, a region of Somalia bordering Kenya.
“I make no apologies for building a successful business in Maine, working hard to earn a living, earning my PhD, giving back to my Maine community, and running for office in Jubaland,” Ali wrote on X last week in response to reporting on Gateway. “I am proud to contribute my hard-earned $ to support my people back home. America is a nation of laws—you cannot change facts by fabricating false stories. I am proud Somali-American.”
The Post reached out to multiple executives at Gateway and Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ office for comment about the accusations.
“The Mills Administration has neglected obvious and credible reports of Somali-linked systemic fraud in the MaineCare system,” Maine GOP state Sen. Matt Harrington raged to the outlet. “This is an outrageous betrayal of Maine taxpayers.”
