In November 2025, Hennepin County Judge Sarah West ignited a firestorm by overturning the conviction of Abdifatah Yusuf.

A jury had spent four hours convicting Yusuf of aiding and abetting a $7.2 million Medicaid fraud scheme involving his business, Promise Health.

Prosecutors said Yusuf spent Medicaid money on shopping sprees at luxury clothing stores. Judge West wrote that the state relied heavily on circumstantial evidence and did not rule out other reasonable inferences, and she entered a judgment of acquittal.

The Power of Rule 26.03