MINNEAPOLIS — Ten more people have been charged in the ongoing $250 million federal food aid fraud case involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, prosecutors announced Monday.
The additional charges reflect a deepening criminal probe that spans the state. To date, 60 people have been charged since the first wave of indictments in September and U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said more are expected.
"Our work is not done and we expect to bring more charges in the future," Luger said during a news conference on Monday.
On Monday, Luger said the government has now seized about $66.6 million in property "and climbing" in the massive fraud case. He did not provide an updated tally on the total alleged fraud — first estimated at $250 million — but said that it is "growing and it will continue to grow."
Six people have pleaded guilty so far. Three of the 10 new defendants have been charged via felony criminal information, which Luger said indicated that those three were expected to plead guilty.
The 10 new defendants will have their first court appearances early this week, Luger said, at which time determinations will be made on whether any of them will be detained.
In outlining the new charges, Luger singled out allegations against Kawsar Jama, 41, of Eagan, indicted for her part in an alleged $3.7 million scheme to falsely claim that she served 1.46 million meals to children while under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future between September 2020 and February 2022.
Luger said Jama claimed to operate federal food aid sites in Pelican Rapids, Burnsville and Minneapolis. In the small, north-central town of Pelican Rapids, Jama allegedly claimed to serve 2,560 meals daily to needy children — despite the town having a population of just about 2,500.
Luger said Jama used phony invoices, and none of the children's names on reimbursement forms matched any of the children enrolled in school in that town. Jama allegedly reached out to a friend for help inventing new names as the scheme wore on. Luger added that Jama did not even operate a physical location at which she claimed to be serving the meals.
Jama is charged with five counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering. She is accused of using money she received from the Federal Child Nutrition Program on living expenses, real estate and vehicles that included a Tesla Model X and Infiniti QX56 SUV.
The new indictments include various charges of wire fraud, money laundering and federal programs bribery.
Other defendants include:
Abdikadir Kadiye, 51, of Minneapolis, who is accused of laundering $20,000 of the $1.1 million in fraudulent claims he received from the government to purchase a laundromat.
Adulkadir Awale, 50, of Bloomington, CEO of Nawal Restaurant and the principal of Karmel Coffee, LLC, and Sambusa King, Inc., is accused of falsely claiming to have served 3.6 million meals at multiple sites, totaling $11.8 million in false federal food aid claims between April 2020 and January 2022.
Ayan Farah Abukar, 41, of Savage, founded Action for East African People and received $5.7 million in federal money from October 2020 through 2022. She allegedly also paid $330,000 in kickbacks to Hadith Ahmed, a Feeding Our Future employee who has previously been indicted in this case; spent $1.5 million of what she received on a 37-acre commercial property in Lakeville, and $250,000 towards a Magnus Fusion 212 Aircraft to be delivered to Nairobi, Kenya.
Khadra Abdi, 41, Minneapolis, received $3.4 million in false claims that she fed 1.1 million needy children from April 2020 to December 2021 while also paying at least $17,000 in kickbacks to Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Eidleh, who has also been indicted.
Sade Osman Hashi, 45, of Minneapolis, is accused for falsely claiming to have served up to 2,500 kids daily via Great Lakes Inc., and Safari Express, at a site in Midtown Global Market. For that, according to charges, Hashireceived $5.7 million in federal money and paid $150,000 in kickbacks to Ahmed. Hashi allegedly converted about $133,000 of the federal money he received to cryptocurrency.
Sharon Denise Ross, 52, Big Lake, executive director of House of Refuge Twin Cities, received $2.8 million in fraudulent payments between Oct. 2021 and Jan. 2022 — some of which spent on real estate, vehicles, payments to family. Messages were left seeking comment.
Those charged by felony criminal information include Mohamed Ali Hussein, 53, and Lul Bashar Ali, 57, both of Faribault. They are accused of accepting more than $5 million in fraudulent federal food aid funds for a pair of sites in their hometown at which they falsely claimed to be serving meals to thousands of needy kids daily. They are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Hussein is also accused of paying more than $100,000 to Eidleh.
Both Hussein and Ali are represented by the same attorney, and a message was left seeking comment.
Mulata Yusuf Ali, 38 of Minneapolis, is also charged by information with theft of government funds involving the Federal Child Nutrition Program for alleging takin more than $1,000. Ali's attorney, Andrew Mohring, declined to comment.
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