Continued: Niece of Somali leader convicted in HMO billing scam

"The case is bigger than the defendant. It's as if the Somali community is on trial," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.

Jamal, who attended the trial in U.S. District Court, explained that Omar and Essa touched much of the Somali community with their social work and their interpreting business. Recent clan meetings have focused on the repercussions the case might have, he said.

Essa and Omar started a social services organization in Minneapolis called the Somali Community of Minnesota in 1995. Essa was its executive director, while Omar initially kept her full time job at Lutheran Social Services. The couple helped thousands of Somali refugees and were recognized in 2002 with a Virginia McKnight Binger award for human service.

Omar testified that she and Essa, who was born in Yemen, were betrothed when she was 8 or 9 years old. Omar moved to the United States in 1982 for schooling and married Essa. Each later became U.S. citizens.

When Global Interpreters started in June 1993, Ahmed Omar was listed as the contact person. State records show that the business incorporated in 1996, with Essa as its CEO and Omar as the secretary. They had a 50:50 share.

The investigation into their billings began in September 2003, when John Callinan, a former U.S. postal inspector working for Medica, noticed that a lot of Global Interpreter's claims for services failed to match dates for clients' medical clinic visits.

Callinan testified that Essa had told him he should see Omar, who was president of the company. Omar failed to turn over records in a timely fashion, he said, so Medica cancelled the Global's contract.

Callinan said his investigation found that more than $1.1 million in claims for interpreting services lacked matching clinic visits. He turned the case over to investigators with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service.

Tou Vang, the Medica employee who served as Global's liaison, testified that he had noticed the same pattern in the late 1990s. Rather than report it, Vang said, he met with Omar and Essa and proposed "doing a scam" on Medica. He said they quickly agreed.

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