Gateway Community Services Maine (GCSM) is a Maine-based nonprofit with a for-profit LLC partner, Gateway Community Services LLC (GCS LLC), that came under intense scrutiny beginning in 2025 for its frequent failure of state audits regarding Medicaid payments. In those audits, GCS LLC often completely failed to provide documentation for hundreds of thousands of dollars in billing. As of December 2025, the state of Maine stopped all payments to the LLC while the allegations of fraud, bolstered by a former employee whistleblower, were investigated. ^{1  2}

At the heart of the allegations of fraud is the two organizations’ founder, Abdullahi Ali, a Somali refugee who later became a U.S. citizen. Ali founded the LLC in 2014  (although its business filing date being December 30 of 2014 appears to have led to some media reports to state it was formed in 2015) and then its nonprofit arm in 2016. ^{3  2} Ali is very involved in Somali politics, going so far as to raise funds for the paramilitary militia known as the Jubaland-Somali Army, which he characterized as paying “my share of the fund”. Ali would brag about this funding when, in 2024, he launched a failed bid to become the president of Somalia’s Jubaland province and contested the validity of the election after his defeat. Ali’s son and second cousin have been accused of ordering a hit on a journalist in Jubaland who was reporting on allegations of fraud that Ali, who is still active in regional politics, was facing in the U.S. ^{4  5}

Background

Gateway Community Services Maine was founded in 2016 as a charitable organization by Abdullahi Ali—a Somali refugee who, in 2014, had founded the similarly named Gateway Community Services LLC, a for-profit medical service. ^{6  7}

Gateway promotes itself as a public-health provider focused on immigrants and refugees that promotes community cooperation. However, it does state that participants in its leadership program will learn about activism geared towards “climate justice.” ⁸

Unlike its partner for-profit company, Gateway Community Services LLC, Gateway Community Services Maine does not provide health services and does not bill the state medical system. ⁹ Its wellness program claims to employ community-health workers who provide assistance to people navigating public-benefit applications, insurance, and access to other resources, including job support. However, there is nothing on the organization’s website directing people where to go or sign up to receive such assistance. ⁸

The wellness program claims to have had roughly 1,100 direct service engagements in 2024, although this framing makes it unclear how many unique individuals were provided with services. ¹⁰

Similarly, the nonprofit service claims to run a leadership program and a community program. Aside from a short description, there is no other information available online about these programs or how one can participate. Its 2024 annual report stated that the youth mentoring program had 41 participants, many of whom were aged 15 to 18. The exact nature of the program is unclear, with the organization checking in only once every three months, and with 13 participants having dropped out of the program as of 2024. The report further stated that participants helped provide “election assistance,” although it is unclear what assistance was provided. ¹⁰

Controversies

Allegations of Fraud

Both Gateway Community Services-associated entities flew largely under the radar until a 2022 audit of state medical payments to the LLC. The audit found that it the LLC overcharged the Maine Medicaid system $776,022.21. The LLC often due failed to submit documentation and time sheets. It had not repaid this money as of August 2025. ⁴

Also in 2022, founder Abdullahi Ali was implicated in a home health-worker wage-fixing scheme between four home health-care services, though Ali was never indicted. ¹¹
Additional audits continued to find similar large levels of incorrect billing. This resulted in the government of Maine cutting off all payments to the LLC in December of 2025, pending further investigations. ²

In December 2025, a former LLC employee, Christoper Bernardini, who worked in billing came forward as a whistleblower alleging that the company was purposefully falsifying billing to the state Medicaid system, including billing for services never rendered. Bernardini stated that he became suspicious when he heard from clients who reported that their providers never showed up at appointments. ¹²
In light of these allegations, in December 2025 the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent requesting suspicious-activity reports and other documents regarding various for-profit, nonprofit, and individuals of interest over concerns related to waste, fraud, and the funding of terrorism. Gateway Community Services Maine (though only identified as Gateway Community Services) was on the list, as were a number of its employees, including founder Abdullahi Ali and executive director Nathan Davis. ¹³

Allegations of Arming a Milita and Putting a Hit Out on a Rival Journalist

However, the allegations against Gateway Community Services Maine and Gateway Community Services LLC exceed simple defrauding of the state Medicaid system. Despite becoming an American citizen, Abdullahi Ali is very involved in Somali domestic politics. In 2024, Ali was living in Kenya and preparing to run for the office of President of the Jubaland province in Somalia, though this attempt was ultimately unsuccessful. ⁵

The clan-based political system in Somalia necessitates that aspiring politicians mobilize clan-based militias and patronage networks, which led to questions about whether Ali used allegedly defrauded funds to fuel his political ambitions.. ⁴

Beyond the allegation of using stolen taxpayer funds to arm a militia and run a political campaign in a foreign country, Ali’s family members have also faced accusations of placing a bounty on the head of a Somali reporter who shared American reporting alleging that Ali was defrauding taxpayers. ⁴

After the whistleblower report was translated into Somalian and shared by a news outlet called Jubaland Media, Ali’s son made hostile posts on Facebook. In the comments of that post, Ali’s second cousin stated that “We’ll pay 50 shilling [roughly nine cents] for each person to kill the man,” seemingly implying that if a mob killed the reporter, every participant would be paid 50 Somali shillings. ⁴

Gateway Community Services LLC

As a private company, Gateway Community Services LLC, the for-profit partner of Gateway Community Services Maine, does not have publicly available financial information. However, the firm has received millions of dollars in state Medicaid funding since its inception. Beginning in 2025, the company began to receive additional scrutiny in light of persistent findings of non-compliant billing. An audit conducted in 2022 for billing for all of 2017 and 2018 found that it had incorrectly billed $776,022.21 and was required to repay that amount to the state. ⁴

A review of payments from 2015 to 2018 found around $660,000 in overpayments, and a review of payments from March of 2021 to December of 2022 found over $1 million incorrect payments, mostly tied to interpreters. This led the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to suspend payments to the company while it investigated “credible allegations of fraud.” ^{2   5}

Relatedly, a whistleblower former employee came forward at the end of 2025 alleging widespread purposeful fraud within the company. ¹²

Financials

For 2024, the nonprofit Gateway Community Services Maine reported $1,525,160 in revenue, of which $1,504,440 cane from contributions and grants and $20,720 from program service revenue. It reported $1,240,759 in government grants, making up over 81 percent of total revenue. ¹⁴

The nonprofit GCSM reported $1,671,032 in expenses for 2024, of which $1,314,539 was spent on employee salaries and compensation, with other expenses including $79,651 in occupancy expenses, $16,794 for travel, $17,333 for training, and $12,435 for food. ¹⁵

It ended the year with a loss of $145,872 and $265,309 in assets. ¹⁶

In the wake of a 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, the Maine Community Foundation raised roughly $6 million from two fundraisers. About $4.7 was distributed to the victims and survivors of the shooting, and $1.9 was distributed to local nonprofits. The Maine Community Foundation created a steering committee to guide the dispersal of funds, and Nathan Davis was on this committee, which in turn ended up distributing $65,522 to Gateway Community Services Maine. The funding was investigated by the Maine Attorney General’s office in response to a review by the One in Five Foundation, which raised concerns, about whether the funding was used in programs not related to the victims. The AG’s office found there had not been any wrongdoing and noted that the funds were gifted as unrestricted. ¹⁷

Leadership

Executive Director

As of 2026, Nathan Davis was executive director of the nonprofit Gateway Community Services Maine, a position he has held since June 2025. He was previously the director of programs from May 2022. Before that, he worked as a business account manager at Wayfair and a consultant with the Beacon Group. ^{18  19}

Founder

Abdullahi Ali founded both Gateway Community Services Maine and Gateway Community Services LLC. As of February 2026, he was reportedly no longer involved in the nonprofit’s operations. Ali arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia after having spent time in Kenya at a refugee camp. In addition to the health-services enterprises, he was also CEO of LAAFYO Property Development as of 2026. ^{6  20}

Ali is also the founder of another nonprofit based in Maine called the Nurture All Afric Foundation, which claims to be focused on East Africa. This organization’s 2022 tax return, its most recent tax filing as of 2026, showed no revenue or expenses. The organization’s website has an address in Kenya, but the telephone number and email address were placeholders. It also claims to be running programs focused on education, water and sanitation, health care, and inter-culture connection and understanding; however, aside from merely asserting that these services and programs are provided, it is not clear from the website if they exist or how they are funded.. ^{21  22  23}

Ali has come under great scrutiny related to alleged fraud and misbilling related to his role at Gateway Community Services LLC. Audits have found hundreds of thousands of dollars in incorrect billing, and as of December 2025, the government of Maine had stopped all payments to the LLC pending further investigation. ²⁴

Despite being a U.S. citizen, Ali is very involved in domestic politics in Somalia, and in 2024, unsuccessfully ran for the office of President of the Somali province of Jubaland. Ali campaigned for this office among the Somali diaspora community in Minnesota, and has continued to be involved in Somali politics. He is seemingly based in Kenya, where he interacts with foreign dignitaries, such as the Pakistani ambassador to Ethiopia, and a visit to the Saudi embassy in Nairobi in March 2025. ⁵

Ali bragged to Kenyan media about helping fund a paramilitary militia known as the Jubaland-Somali army to buy weapons and equipment. As of March of 2025, Ali was not registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. federal government, despite his activity allegedly funding a provincial paramilitary. ⁵

This connection to an armed militia also plays into allegations that Ali’s son and other familial clan members placed a hit on a critical journalist in Jubaland province who was reporting on the allegations against Ali regarding fraud in the U.S. Ali’s son, Abdi Najib Abdullahi, posted on Facebook in late 2025 that “there are some plants you should never eat,” which the Maine Wire reports is an idiom equivalent to “there are some people one shouldn’t mess with or insult.” as a threat. ²⁵

Ali’s second cousin, Ayanle Abdullahi Aden, then commented, “We’ll pay 50 shilling for each person to kill the man,” and then later commenting, “Kill this man. Worth 50 shilling for each person involved.” These posts seem to promote mob violence to kill the Somali reporter, with Ali’s son later addressing the media outlet stating, “Jubbaland Media so since this platform insults politicians, we know those who run this media and we’ll deal with you soon.” ²⁵

Ali himself deleted his Facebook and LinkedIn profiles in the wake of scrutiny about his alleged fraudulent activities by the Maine Wire. ⁵

Connection to Maine Legislators and Activists

Gateway Community Services also has several connections to Somali members of the Maine legislature and government. Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-South Portland) reported on disclosure forms that she was the assistant executive director of Gateway Community Services Maine, with an announcement from the group stating that she would be involved in various planning activities and board engagement from 2021 to 2023. As of 2025, Dhalac held a seat on the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which oversees the state’s budget and fiscal issues. ^{5  26}

Dhalac was responsible for a proposal to create an Office of New Americans within the Maine government. This office is focused on migrant resettlement, and its only staff member as of 2025 was Ekhlas Ahmed, who previously worked as a community-health worker with Gateway Community Services Maine. Ahmed has stated that there is “no reason” for migrants—specifically from Sudan, where she is from—to assimilate, and she stated that “I fight for Sudan in all my capacity.” ^{5  25}

Rep. Yusuf Yusuf (D) is another Somali-American member of the legislature with ties to Gateway Community Services with a previous version of his legislative biography stating that “Yusuf works closely with Gateway Community Services.” This affiliation was removed from his bio as of February 2026. Yusuf is on the Housing and Economic Development committee. ^{27   28}

A former special assistant at Gateway, Safiya Khalid, is the founder and executive director of the Community Organizing Alliance, which has been characterized as an immigrant ballot-harvesting operation and is fiscally sponsored by the Maine People’s Alliance, a left-of-center organizing coalition. ^{25  29}

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15. Gateway Community Services Maine. Return from an organization exempt from taxation (Form 990). 2024, Part I, IX
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