10 More Charged in $250 Million Scheme to Defraud Federally-Funded Child Nutrition Program

The Department of Justice logo is pictured on a wall in New York on Dec. 5, 2013. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Ten more people have been charged over their alleged roles in a scheme to exploit a federally-funded child nutrition program in Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal prosecutors announced on March 13.

The 10 defendants are charged across four separate indictments on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.

The latest charges against the 10 individuals mean that a total of 60 people have now been charged in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.

Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit organization, was a sponsor participating in the Federal Child Nutrition Program, a federally-funded program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and designed to provide free meals to children in need during the pandemic.

“As outlined in the charging documents, the defendants participated in a massive scheme to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program by obtaining, misappropriating, and laundering millions of dollars in program funds that were intended as reimbursements for the cost of serving meals to children,” prosecutors said.

“The defendants exploited changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than feed children, the defendants enriched themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds,” they added.

Funding Used to Buy Luxury Vehicles, Aircraft

Among the individuals charged is Abdulkadir Awale, 50, of Bloomington, who prosecutors said had claimed to have provided food for more than 3.6 million meals to various sites in Minnesota between April 2020 through January 2022, totaling approximately $11.8 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.

Awale, the principal of Karmel Coffee, LLC and Sambusa King, Inc., and the CEO of Nawal Restaurant, instead used the money to make mortgage payments, cash withdrawals, and purchase vehicles, including a Freightliner Cascadia truck, according to prosecutors.

The business owner also allegedly paid at least $83,000 in kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee.

Elsewhere, Ayan Farah Abukar, 41, the founder and executive director of the non-profit Action for East African People, allegedly received $5.7 million in fraudulently obtained funds as part of the child nutrition program.

Prosecutors claim Abukar spent millions of the funds on real estate, including a 37-acre commercial property in Lakeville, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on purchasing an aircraft to be delivered to Nairobi, Kenya, prosecutors allege.

She also paid more than $330,000 in kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee, according to prosecutors.

Sade Osman Hashi, 45, of Minneapolis, also allegedly received approximately $5.7 million in fraudulent funds between September 2020 through 2022 while claiming to be serving as many as 2,500 meals each day to needy children at his site in the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.

Investigation Remains Ongoing

Prosecutors claim Hashi used the money to make cash withdrawals and converted approximately $133,000 to cryptocurrency. Hashi, the principal of Great Lakes Inc. and Safari Express also paid more than $150,000 in kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee, prosecutors said.

The other individuals in the case include Abdikadir Kadiye, 51, of Minneapolis, Khadra Abdi, 41, of Minneapolis, Sharon Denise Ross, 52, of Big Lake, Mohamed Ali Hussein, 53, of Faribault, Lul Bashir Ali, 57, of Faribault, Malata Yusuf Ali, 38, of Minneapolis, and Kawsar Jama, 41, of Eagan.

All of the remaining individuals allegedly received between $1.1 million and $3.7 million in fraudulent funds as part of the child nutrition program.

At a press conference on Monday, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said that 60 people had been charged in the pandemic-related fraud scheme and that six people have pleaded guilty so far.

“Just like the first group of defendants, those charged today spent much of the money they stole on themselves,” Luger said. “Our investigation continues, and we expect to bring more charges in the future,” Luger said.

Aimee Bock, the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, has also been charged with overseeing the massive fraud scheme that was carried out under its sponsorship.

According to prosecutors, the non-profit went from receiving and disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021.

The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson for Feeding Our Future for comment.