Recently, a young man has gone viral on social media by uploading his luxurious photos. In one photo, he is seen in a private jet, and the caption of the photo reads 'Welcome aboard Air Roshan'. He has posted photos of himself standing next to expensive cars like Range Rover and Corvette and sipping champagne. These photos, which have become famous in Nepal and the Nepali diaspora, and the luxurious life and achievements of the young man are inspiring at first glance. In some videos found on social media, he says that he has come this far after a lot of struggle. The person seen in the

Instagram posts is 29-year-old Roshan Adhikari. He is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of a healthcare company in Cleveland, and his company receives money from the government through the US government's 'Medicaid' program. A conservative media outlet in the US is currently portraying this Nepali-speaking Bhutanese young man as the main figure in a network that is misusing billions of dollars. The network, which is said to be deeply rooted in Ohio's Bhutanese-Nepalese and Somali communities, has been accused of abusing a program aimed at caring for America's most vulnerable citizens.

The issue has become even more heated after the US House of Representatives task force held its first public hearing on Ohio's Medicaid package last Wednesday. The facts show that fraud has occurred in Ohio's home health care program, and some people from the Bhutanese-Nepalese community were involved in it. The incident has caused a huge wave in mainstream American politics, increasing pressure on the refugee and immigrant community, which is facing one of the most challenging situations in American immigration history.

What was this incident? Let's understand this issue in detail.

What is Medicaid?

'Medicaid' is a special health insurance program run by the US government for low-income citizens.

The US federal government and various state governments jointly allocate funds for this. Citizens covered by this program receive treatment for free or at a very low cost. The ‘Home and Community-Based Services’ concessional program is one of the various services covered by Medicaid. The main controversy of the current scam is centered on this program.

Under this program, home health providers are assigned to Medicaid patients to provide personal care services such as cooking, cleaning, helping with daily tasks, and supporting them in times of need. The necessary funds for these services are borne by the Medicaid fund. This plan was introduced to create an environment for senior citizens or people with disabilities to enjoy facilities at home instead of going to nursing homes or care centers. Family members can enroll in Medicaid and receive benefits as home health providers to care for their relatives. The program's design is suspected of being fraudulent.

How did the Bhutanese and Nepali communities end up in the US state of Ohio?

In the late 1980s, the Bhutanese government deported thousands of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens, known as Lhotsampa. After being displaced, the families spent more than a decade in camps run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jhapa and Morang in eastern Nepal.

In 2007, the US agreed to resettle about 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. Bhutanese have been resettled in many parts of the US. Ohio is one of the places where large numbers of Bhutanese have been resettled. Currently, cities like Columbus, Cleveland, and Akron in Ohio have a large Bhutanese-Nepali community. Most of them are senior citizens who do not speak English well. They live in joint families and are involved in government assistance programs like Medicaid.

So what exactly is the allegation?

‘The Daily Wire’ reporter Luke Rosiak has found two different types of fraud in the state of Ohio through a detailed analysis of publicly available Medicaid payment data. One of the fraud methods is a network of financial irregularities using ‘paper companies’.

Journalist Rosiak has uncovered the fact that 288 home health care providers are registered at the same address in the city of Columbus. Most of these companies are located in seven vacant office buildings on ‘State Route 161’. When he visited the buildings, the rooms were deserted. There were no employees, months-old letters piled up, and only signs on the door that said “Out for food.” The total bill these paper companies sent to the US government under Medicaid funds between 2018 and 2024 amounted to more than $250 million. Rosiak claims that most of these companies are founded and run by immigrants, and that some of their directors are from the Bhutanese-Nepali community. The second type of fraud is related to the “family caregiver” scheme. Rosiak alleges that Bhutanese and Somali families are registering as home health providers with fake documents in the names of their relatives who do not need health care or special care, and receiving money from Medicaid funds. Rosiak has accused these people of pocketing the budget without providing any services and of paying illegal commissions to health workers who certify documents for such fraudulent work.

The claim that a total of $1.2 billion in fraud has been committed in the state of Ohio alone through these two schemes is currently being vigorously raised in the US House of Representatives.

Have these claims been independently verified?

The Medicaid payment data that journalist Rosiak cites and uses is publicly available. His main conclusion that hundreds of companies use the same address in buildings that appear empty is based on easily verifiable public facts. He himself visited those offices on site and documented what he found. That is why his investigation is difficult to ignore.

However, this has not yet been independently confirmed by mainstream US news organizations. Ohio's public radio network, the State House News Bureau, said the allegations are yet to be confirmed and the full details of the reports are yet to be released. So far, no formal charges or indictments have been announced against people connected to the Bhutanese-Nepalese network. Therefore, the $1.2 billion figure is only an estimate of the potential scam for now, not an officially confirmed fact.

The Ohio state government and its governor, Mike DeWine, have implemented new emergency regulations on the issue. Similarly, a special investigation has been launched. Which indicates that there is some problem. However, the size of the scam and the actual culprits have not been determined. This will be determined by the court.

Who is the journalist who broke the news, Luke Rosiak?

Rosiak is an investigative journalist for The Daily Wire. Commentator Ben Shapiro is one of the co-founders of this conservative (right-wing) media outlet. Rosiak called the incident a “racial fraud.”

He accused these people of being involved in a game of defrauding the government program that provides Medicaid assistance to seriously ill people even if they are “not very sick.” His language portrays the entire immigrant community in America as crooks or criminals. The American hard-right has been portraying immigrants in this way for years to gain political influence.

Earlier in 2016, Rosiak had written a series of reports alleging a large conspiracy against a Pakistani-American IT employee named Imran Awan. However, those news stories later proved to be false and misleading. Awan then filed a defamation lawsuit against journalist Roziak and his then-employer, The Daily Caller. The court refused to dismiss the case, and the case was eventually settled by mutual consent between the two parties.

Why is this reporting currently garnering so much political attention in the United States?

US President Donald Trump has made immigration enforcement and Medicaid fraud his top political issues. The news about the Bhutanese-Nepali community comes as another similar fraud allegation is being made against the Somali community in Minnesota. Politicians who favor cutting Medicaid spending have raised the issue nationwide. Texas Representative Brandon Gill, who is leading the parliamentary investigation, has clearly presented it as a story of failed immigration policy. Vice President J.D. Vance has called for a federal investigation into the matter.

Republican senators have been holding press conferences on this issue. This story has been used not only as an anti-fraud but also as an anti-immigrant and refugee agenda. This does not mean that the fraud allegations are completely false. However, it is clear that it has been used more for political gain than the legal framework. At this sensitive time, which has become challenging for refugees and immigrants in the United States, the entire Bhutanese and Nepali community is being forcibly portrayed as the villain of a political drama.

What happened in the US Congress this week?

On June 3, 2026, a special task force of the lower house (House) held its first public hearing on Ohio's Medicaid package. At the hearing, lead investigator and journalist Luke Roziak gave his official statement to lawmakers.

In the process, a complicated debate took place. Representative Sontel Brown, a Democrat representing the Cleveland area, which has a large Bhutanese-Nepali community, interrupted the meeting, claiming that Rosiak's findings were "ridiculous" and completely wrong. Similarly, another Democrat expressed serious doubts about the fairness of the entire hearing process.

The sharp political and partisan polarization seen in this case is not surprising. Republicans are fully embracing the report and pushing for an aggressive investigation, while Democrats are opposing it. However, the Democrats' opposition is not about the fraud itself, but about the investigation process and the commentary made about it in society.

So what does this incident mean for the Bhutanese community?

These serious allegations that have now been made public are focused only on certain businesses and operators. Not on the entire community. The majority of Bhutanese-Nepalese people in Ohio have arrived in the United States as refugees after years of hard struggle and hardship. They have built their lives on a new foundation despite facing extremely difficult circumstances. They have no connection to these alleged scams.

Community representatives and Democratic lawmakers have questioned journalist Rosiak's presentation. They argue that Rosiak's use of words like 'ethnic fraud' and his discussion of the accused have seriously damaged the reputation of innocent people by elevating the Bhutanese-Somali identity. At this sensitive time, when the US government is tightening refugee resettlement efforts and aggressively increasing surveillance of the immigrant community, the impact of such incidents may not be limited to a few individuals with bad behavior, but to the entire community.

The real extent of this fraud and who is really responsible and guilty in it will ultimately be proven legally by government lawyers and investigators. And, the court will decide. That process has just begun.

What is the Nepal identity of accused Roshan Adhikari?

Adhikari is not only seen coming and going to Nepal frequently, he also seems to be interested in Nepali songs and music. In 2076, he sang the song "Jhyalko Purda Banda Garnu Hai ..." with Anju Pant. In the music video of this song, he has acted with actress Priyanka Karki.

In 2078, he sang the song "Dharai Nakholi ..." with Samiksha Adhikari. In the music video of this song, he has acted together with Aanchal Sharma to Pooja Sharma. The last time he sang and acted in 'Peheli Nazarki Rani' was released on the At K Motion Pictures YouTube channel in 2082 Pus. The featured video with actress Garima Sharma was shot in the US. In the context of this music video, he had talked about it on