Ten more Minnesotans have been charged in the Feeding Our Future scandal, bringing the number of criminal defendants to 60 in what federal prosecutors have called the nation’s largest coronavirus pandemic fraud.
Like the 50 charged last year, the new defendants are accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s child nutrition programs during the pandemic, when regulations temporarily were loosened and a variety of businesses and nonprofits were allowed to help feed hungry kids while schools were closed.
Few meals actually were served, according to U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, who said the total amount of federal money reimbursed due to fraudulent meal claims in Minnesota now exceeds the $250 million figure he gave in September.
Six defendants so far have pleaded guilty, and the government has seized $66.6 million in real estate, bank accounts, vehicles and more from people implicated in the fraud, Luger said.
“Our work is not done. We expect to bring more charges in the future,” he said at a news conference Monday.
Accused of misappropriating federal funds
At the center of the alleged scheme is Aimee Bock, who founded two nonprofits that became prolific sponsors of organizations that handed out meals to children and families.
One of those nonprofits, Feeding Our Future, grew from $3.5 million in meal reimbursements in 2019 to $198 million two years later. The other, Partners In Nutrition, claimed $179 million in reimbursements in 2021 after Bock no longer was involved in the business.
Bock has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges and is scheduled for trial later this year.
No one at Partners In Nutrition has been charged, although charging documents from last year show their clients were suspected of misappropriating more than $57 million in federal funds.
Three of the new defendants — Mohamed Ali Hussein, Lul Bashir Ali and Mulata Ali — were named in a charging document called an information, which indicates they are expected to plead guilty soon.
Hussein, who operated the Somali American Faribault Education, and Lul Bashir Ali, who owned Lido Restaurant, obtained more than $5 million in reimbursements for meals they say they served in Faribault, where they claimed to have fed a combined 4,100 children, seven days a week, according to documents charging them with a wire fraud conspiracy. They also paid kickbacks to an employee at Feeding Our Future, the charges say.
No detailed allegations were given for Mulata Ali, who is charged with theft of government funds.
St. Paul nonprofit
The newly indicted include:
• Sharon Ross, executive director of the St. Paul nonprofit House of Refuge, who allegedly caused $2.8 million in false reimbursements for multiple food sites.
• Ayan Abukar, who ran the Bloomington-based nonprofit Action for East African People, and claimed to have served over 3 million meals across seven locations. Prosecutors say she actually served very few meals but received $5.8 million in federal reimbursements. Abukar laundered the money, handed out bribes and bought 37 acres of land in Lakeville and a two-seat airplane she had delivered to Nairobi, Kenya, according to the indictments.
• Sade Osman Hashi, who obtained $5.7 million in reimbursements by acting as both a Minneapolis food site operator, Great Lakes, and a food supplier, Safari Express. The indictment alleges he served far fewer than the 2,500 daily meals he claimed, and that he spent some of the proceeds on cryptocurrency.
‘Brazen scheme’
Luger at the news conference highlighted the case against Kawsar Jama, one of four newly charged people whose names were added to an updated indictment involving a scheme that generated over $50 million in reimbursements.
Jama, who operated Gedo Community Services and Ahlan Childcare Center, obtained $3.7 million in reimbursements for four food sites she claimed to operate in Pelican Rapids, Burnsville and Minneapolis. She bought two luxury vehicles and a home in Eagan.
Jama at one point claimed to have handed out 8,235 meals and snacks each day for a month in Pelican Rapids alone — about three servings per resident. Unlike other defendants, Jama did not even have a physical location where she could have been distributing meals, Luger said.
“I’ve previously described this as a brazen scheme of staggering proportions, and I would suggest that the allegations against Ms. Jama put the exclamation point to that description,” he said.
Also named in that indictment were Abdikadir Kadiye, Abdulkadi Awale and Khadra Abdi:
• Kadiye, through his Hobyo Health Care Foundation, got $1.1 million in meal reimbursements and spent proceeds on four Minneapolis properties and four vehicles.
• Awale’s businesses, Karmel Coffee, Sambusa King and Nawal Restaurant, were listed as food suppliers for multiple distribution sites – including Kadiye’s – that obtained a combined $11.8 million in federal reimbursements. He bought two trucks, an SUV and homes in Burnsville and Savage.
• Abdi received $3.4 million in reimbursements by claiming to have served 1.1 million meals at Shafi’i Tutoring in Hopkins.
All 10 new defendants were expected to make their first court appearances either Monday or Tuesday.
