Arnold Kubei built an online persona around his rise from bankruptcy to multimillions in Minnesota’s healthcare industry. Apparently, the success story made it onto the office wall, too.
A photo provided to Alpha News by a former employee shows what he says is a conference room inside Kubei’s Metro Care Human Services headquarters in Woodbury.
On the wall are portraits of prominent black leaders, cultural icons and business figures — Barack and Michelle Obama, Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey and Frederick Douglass.
And right in the middle: Arnold Kubei — the Cameroonian immigrant who made millions in Minnesota’s healthcare system, flaunted his success in flashy online videos and, for a price, offered to teach others how to do the same. His operations would later come under investigation for alleged fraud.
By then, two of Kubei’s healthcare companies had collected more than $36 million in taxpayer-funded payments.
Now, Alpha News has learned that the state has moved to cut off Medicaid payments to three more Kubei healthcare operations amid mounting scrutiny of his businesses.
“I could not take him seriously,” the former employee told Alpha News, saying Kubei appeared on the wall “as if he was this next great thing.”
The unusual display offers another glimpse into the image Kubei cultivated as a self-styled immigrant success story. But outside the Woodbury conference room, that success story has collided with mounting state scrutiny.
Kubei’s healthcare companies have received a combined $36.2 million in Medicaid and other state-administered payments, according to figures previously provided to Alpha News by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
One Metro Care license has since been suspended after regulators determined people served by the program faced an “imminent risk of harm.” That action came amid a pending administrative investigation and action related to alleged fraud against a state agency.
Three other Metro Care mental health facilities remain licensed and operating. But DHS has moved to cut off Medicaid payments to those programs as well, telling Alpha News that payment withholds were scheduled to take effect Sept. 20 or sooner.
Once those withholds take effect, “all entities owned by Kubei will no longer be able to receive Medicaid payments,” DHS said.
And now, the former employee who provided Alpha News with the photo is raising new allegations about what he says he encountered while working inside one of Kubei’s three remaining facilities.
Former employee: ‘I could not take him seriously’
The former employee asked not to be identified. W-2 records he provided to Alpha News show he worked for Metro Care. He said he was employed at The Heights, one of Metro Care’s three Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS) facilities.
Known as IRTS facilities, the residential programs provide short-term, intensive mental health treatment and support to adults. Metro Care operates the programs in Inver Grove Heights, Falcon Heights and West St. Paul.
The former employee said he worked at The Heights for about two weeks in October 2025. He also provided Alpha News with his resignation letter.
He said he first encountered the unusual wall while attending orientation at Kubei’s Woodbury headquarters.
“My impression of him was he was very egotistical and about himself,” the former employee said.
Seeing Kubei displayed alongside prominent leaders and cultural figures made him “laugh so hard due to the obscenity of it all,” he said.
What he says he encountered after orientation was considerably less amusing.
The former employee claims to have heard staff — including a nurse — discussing what they described as requests from company “higher ups” to help bill for care or services clients were not actually receiving.
The former employee did not say he personally witnessed fraudulent claims being submitted. He said he personally heard employees discussing the alleged requests from company leadership.
He said those conversations were among the reasons he decided he wanted out.
“I found the whole thing troubling and suspicious and did not want to engage with them any longer,” he said.
He said he resigned about two weeks after starting the job in October 2025. His resignation letter suggests the alleged billing discussions weren’t his only concern.
‘The New York Jets of IRTS facilities’
In the letter, he described Metro Care as one of the “most toxic and disorganized” organizations he had encountered, writing that he had worked in the mental health field for 15 years.
He alleged employees had expressed “deep concerns” about the direction of the company but felt those concerns had “fallen on deaf ears.”
He also described what he characterized as a “massive influx of staff leaving” and said Metro Care was struggling to retain employees — something he believed was affecting the people the company was being paid to serve.
It is “leaving the clients at risk,” he wrote.
The former employee said some clients told him they felt more isolated after entering the IRTS program than they had before.
“We teach them about community and engagement, yet many of these clients are ignored by certain staff that barely engage or cannot go anywhere as a group due to inadequate staffing,” he wrote.
By the end of the letter, he wasn’t mincing words.
“Your organization is the New York Jets of IRTS facilities,” he wrote. “Disorganized, dysfunctional, unprofessional and no clear direction or structure on where to go to become better as a collective whole.”
‘Is he really doing it for the people?’
The former employee told Alpha News he isn’t speaking out because of a personal dispute with Kubei. Rather, he said his concerns center on the clients these programs are supposed to serve and whether the money flowing into the companies is reflected in the services they receive.
“I get making money is important,” he said. “But when that value of what clients are getting in return based on how much his company has brought in doesn’t add up, at some point you have to question this person’s level of integrity.”
“Is he really doing it for the people or for himself?” he asked.
Kubei offered a decidedly different assessment of his work in an interview with the Star Tribune in July.
“I have worked hard and I deserve to drink the Champagne,” Kubei said of a video showcasing his wealth.
Kubei added that people should instead focus on “how many lives have I saved since I started doing this work,” according to the Star Tribune.
Alpha News reached out to Kubei but did not receive a response.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
